The Other Side of the Island
by mypiratecat1
Summary: PostAWE, WE, JackOC! Jack takes Will and Elizabeth to his homeland of Ireland, to face his dark past, his terrible nightmares, and to introduce them to an old friend, a woman with whom he has quite a past.  Rated for violence, angst, salty language
1. Where The Compass Points

۞

_Disclaimer: The characters in this story belong to me in no way... except in my heart._

_**Author's note**: This is a direct sequel to my fiction, "Thicker Than Water", in which Jack and Will find out from Calypso that they are half first cousins. Calypso also reveals that Jack will fall deathly ill, and during his illness, Will is granted the ability, unknown to Jack, to "see" into Jack's heart and dark, sad past, part of which was spent as a slave. As in all of my fics, it is set postAWE, and William is released from his curse and sailing with Elizabeth aboard the Pearl._

_It might be helpful to new readers to read "Thicker Than Water", first... this one might not make as much sense until one reads that story. Almost all of my fictions are spun off of "Calypso's Hand", "Thicker Than Water" and "The Ties That Bind". As always, thank you for reading and reviewing my fictions... I can't believe how well received they have been, just since I started writing in May, 2007._

_Dedication: I dedicate this story to all of my faithful, repeat readers, who have given me support, suggestions, reviews and who have all been diamonds. This one is for all of you, mates. (Pirate Cat tips her tricorn and raises a mug of rum in tribute!) Thank you, my friends. Fair winds in all of your sails... Pirate Cat  
_

۞

He sat high up on the wide platform that made up the simple crow's nest, on the highest yardarm of the main mast of the dark ship that was his home... the black sails full of wind, and the dark decks gleaming up at him in the bright sunlight. Strange, he thought, that the deckboards did not look black from up here, but the true dark walnut colour that they really were. Walnut coloured, just like his own skin... his own dark gypsy skin that, to him, did not set him apart from anyone else, but made others view him differently, just as the deck looked different from above. Looks were deceiving, at times, he thought, unless one truly backed away from things and observed them from another angle, another view, another perspective... everything could be deceiving.

As he dangled his thin, booted legs over the edge of the platform, he observed the goings on below him as the winds blew his long, dark braids all about his handsome, angular face. He would sometimes climb up to this place at the top of his world, to think. He could feel the ends the waist-long, beaded braids and dreadlocks beating against his back, or trying to wind themselves around the rigging. Wound around, twisted and confusing... much like his emotions could be, at times. He wished that his mind was as easy to untangle as his braids were.

Sometimes he would have to sit back and watch what was going on around him and wonder just why everything looked so much different to him since being rescued from the Locker... things did not feel the same, yet he could not exactly pin down just what had changed... he had the distinct impression that his crew, as much as they seemed to like him, thought that he was a different man than he was before he was taken from them. He had more of what might be called a humanity to him... although it had always been there, but he had carefully tried to keep it pushed down deep inside... emotions of the heart could be a weakness in the world that had been thrust upon him very early in life.

He had been told that he was truly a good man with a good heart... but that heart really did get in the way, sometimes. It got in the way of surviving as a pirate... it got him into trouble. He did not really want to be a good man much of the time, but his conscience and heart was something that a pirate simply could not extinguish at will. His heart was what caused almost all of the troubles that he had ever known, except for the horrors that were thrust upon him as a wee little lad of only six years old... horrors that no child should ever endure... but he had been forced to endure them. He had survived, he thought, but it had left its scars upon him, both physically and mentally, along with other events in his life, he frowned...

He kept gazing down at the crewmembers working at various tasks, below him. Especially two of them... two that he cared about deeply as friends, and one that he cared about deeply as his half first cousin - his first mate, William Turner the Second...recently revealed as being related to him, through their fathers... and William's wife, Elizabeth Swann Turner.

He watched them as they paused in their activities; it was William's shift at helming the ship, and he had been at the wheel... Elizabeth, the quartermaster second mate, had been sitting at a table with her quill and ledger book, tallying the supplies that she had inventoried in the hold. Taking a moment to themselves, the captain watched as the young couple casually leaned against the railing of the mighty Black Pearl, their arms around each other, smiling and sharing a warm kiss... a loving caress... Elizabeth was running her fingers through William's long, dark, curly hair, and laughing as one of his own short braids blew into her face. That always caused a smile... his cousin emulated him a bit by braiding a few meaningful items into his own hair, which was now grown way past his shoulders.

Turning his face away as they looked up at him, he felt the peculiar pain in his chest that always presented itself when he felt emotional, these days, as he thought of what the young couple had endured to be together, and the love that they shared... rubbing a slender, be-ringed hand over his chest, he felt a bit detached from everything, up here in the rigging. He could not quite understand it... but watching his best friends revel in the happiness that all three of them had worked so hard for made him feel a very annoying loneliness, at times. Loneliness that had taken root inside of him from the very moment that his mother had died... loneliness that had only gotten worse with watching how in love the Turners were.

They had welcomed him with open arms, as family and best friend, and had tried to help him to unlock the feelings that he had kept beaten down inside for his entire life, but in becoming the only real family that he had ever known, they had given him true acceptance that he had never known in his life... perhaps with the exception of one other person... someone that he had last seen when his life had taken a bad turn before what William called the Dark Times... they had parted in an unhappy way, a silly way, and in watching his young cousin and his wife save their love with a lot of blood, sweat and tears, the captain wondered if he, too, could perhaps salvage what he thought might be a scuttled friendship... friends were hard to come by, at times, he knew, and since he naturally had a hopeful nature, he pondered the possibilities.

Drawing his legs up over the edge of the platform, he crossed them, and leaned his elbows on his knees. Looking out over the crystal blue waters, his eyes flickered northeastwardly, and he wondered if she still considered him a friend... closing his eyes and sighing a bit, Captain Jack Sparrow let his mind wander back to his homeland ... back to the lush green forests and the pristine mountains of Connemara, in County Galway, Ireland...

۞

"Ah, Jack! I am glad that you finally decided to come down from your 'Sparrow's nest', mate," William joked as Jack finally descended to the deck with a flourish, swinging down from a rope that secured the mainsail to the lower yardarm... Jack delighted in such descents, since he felt he had been quite impressive with ropes and yardarms during the Battle of the Maelstrom. His antics usually scared the wits out of Elizabeth, as Jack took too many physical risks and had the bruises to prove it, most times, but far be it for her to tell him what to do. She had already stitched his head up once, nursed him through a terrible illness, and helped to pull a tooth that she had damaged by accident, by socking the captain in the jaw... she always reasoned that she could certainly learn to set a broken arm or leg, if the rope wasn't where he thought it would be and he tumbled from the rigging whilst showing off.

Jack grinned at the young couple, as William had what seemed to be a parchment message in his hand. "News, mate? Wot does our Captain Norrington wish to impart to us from the Flying Dutchman, eh?" The captain looked down his nose at the message, trying to see it, as William unrolled it. "Was it brought by Norrie's favorite messenger?" Jack could not help but smirk, his hands making a swimming motion and his rear end wiggling obscenely like the tail of a fish... a scrawny fish, on Jack's part... it was rather amusing, as William chuckled.

Captain James Norrington had been assigned the task of captaining the Flying Dutchman because of William's release... William had toiled long and hard for almost a year after the events At World's End, and it was because of his hard, loyal, honorable work that he had been reunited with his living heart and his soul mate, his wife, Elizabeth. Jack had played a major part in all of it, causing the articles of the Flying Dutchman to be rewritten, and the young couple credited him with carrying out the final step in William's behalf, on his own accord, by petitioning a merciful Calypso to secure William's early release, with the condition that he fulfill his ten years of service by being James' aide and advisor, as needed.

James, in return, would send messages to his assistant here and there... messages of important nature that would inform of stormy conditions upon the seas, as William was, after all, mortal again, and Calypso would not approve if James was remiss, and let harm come to William, if James was mindful of information that would be useful to the Black Pearl. As much as Jack and Captain Norrington had been enemies in life, James had realized the sins that he had committed against Jack and his friends and had truly honoured his word to advise when conditions were less than favourable.

Referring to Jack's question of the method of delivery, William laughed a bit and said, "Yes, Jack, it was the usual method of delivery..." Seeing his beautiful wife approaching from stowing the heavy ledger book, he leaned forward and whispered with a wink, "We must not tell Elizabeth, as we can't get her hopes up, yet, but I do believe that James is in love with another girl, now... we can't say anything until James is certain that things are going to work out, remember!"

Jack smirked and made the swimming motion, again... he knew, for a fact, that there was a very attractive young mermaid that had her cap set for the captain of the Flying Dutchman, and he was rather smug that she had told told the captain before anyone else knew.

As Elizabeth wound an arm around William's waist, her face fell a bit, "A message from James? Will... do you have to leave to serve on the Dutchman for two weeks, again?" Her eyes searched her husband's face as her hand ran affectionately over his deeply scarred chest... she still thrilled to feel his strong, true heart beating against her hand.

"No, my love," William's arm went around her shoulder, and this answer was greeted by his wife's glad expression, "This message is for Jack and myself, regarding weather..."

Jack's face became even more curious. William continued, as he looked at the captain, "Cousin, we may have to belay the plans that we had to go back to the Caribbean for a few more days... the hurricane season is bad, presently, and Captain Norrington advises that we do not cross the Atlantic for now..."

Jack rubbed a hand across his bearded chin for a moment, running the two beaded braids between his fingers, and thought for a moment, looking in a northerly direction, once again. "Hurricanes, eh? That is not somethin' tha' we need t' head into, intentionally, that's a fact... it's good o' Norrington t' warn us... where should we head for, I wonder? Our holds are burstin' wif swag an' supplies, so tha's not an issue... we are at open sea west of the African continent... "

Looking at each other, the young couple smiled. Elizabeth tilted her head at the captain and said, "Well, Jack, you mentioned something during your convalescence from your illness a few weeks ago ... in finding out that you and Will are cousins, you wondered if we would like to visit the land that your shared grandmother was from... the land that you are from... would you consent to taking us to Ireland? Would you object?"

Turning back to his companions, Jack studied their faces for a moment, his own becoming a bit clouded. Reaching out and taking Jack's shoulders in his hands, William said, reassuringly, "Jack... Elizabeth and I would love to accompany you back to Ireland... 'wot say you', mate? We would like to visit there, and Elizabeth and I never really had a honeymoon...you promised that you would take us wherever we would like to go, given the chance. Now's the chance!" William finished with a flourish and a grin.

Jack's eyes widened at that statement. "I promised?" William nodded, and added, "... it might do you good, Jack."

Jack thought it over, his hands raised slightly, and his eyes scanning the horizen, then he turned back to William and Elizabeth. He had not expected his words to come back to haunt him so quickly, but perhaps it was not a bad thing. He took out his compass, and studied the needle with mild dismay, as William and Elizabeth both tried to peek over his shoulders to see.

Jack snapped the compass shut, and growled slightly, then turning to his companions, he grumbled, "Alright mates..."

Putting his arms around their shoulders, "Inasmuch as I can't believe that th' words are emergin' from me mouth...how about us chartin' a course to Eire... I know of a place that is has always been a safe haven for pirates... it is on th' west coast of Ireland, away from th' Irish Sea and England..."

Frowning slightly and looking a bit vexed, he looked from William to Elizabeth, and whined a little, "... are ye sure tha's where ye want t' be goin'?" As the young couple smiled broadly and said, "Aye!" in unison, Jack sighed and said, "Oh, alright."

He hoped that his voice was filled with more enthusiasm than he was truly feeling, he winced... ah well... at least the whelp and his bonnie lass would be with him, to help chase back the demons of his past and hopefully make some peace with the homeland that would soon be ahead of the Black Pearl's dark prow...

_To be continued..._


	2. The Ó Madáin Inn

۞

As Jack went to his cabin to bring out charts to change course, Elizabeth looked up at her husband with deep concern in her hazel eyes. "Will... do you think that this is the right thing to do? Jack has so much to deal with, mentally... is this going to be too much for him?" She turned her face toward the open cabin door, as her hand crept around William's sashed waist.

"I truly think that it will be good for him, my love..." William answered, softly, "...the nightmares have gotten worse, and we both know that he has been calling a name out in his sleep... do not tell him that I have told you what he has said, or he honestly won't teach me any more Gaelic!"

William looked down to his wife... during Jack's recent illness, they had both been made privy, through the grace of Calypso, to Jack's dark past, in order to bring all of them closer than they already were... in order to help the Turners understand their friend and new found cousin... and to help them _all_ truly understand just how much Jack Sparrow had emotionally isolated himself from the world around him.

۞

"Listen up, men..." Jack stood upon the quarterdeck to address his crew, all of whom were puzzled at the sudden change of course... not too puzzled, perhaps, due to their captain's tendancy to take mental flights of great fancy, taking all of the crew along with him, most times. This might not be an exception, although it had been a very long time since they had been back to the Caribbean after Jack had lost the Pearl to Hector Barbossa over a year ago and all were mildly surprised.

"We have been informed by Captain James Norrington tha' th' weather in th' western Atlantic has turned a bit dicey, as it were," Jack twiddled his fingers a bit, as he said the word, 'dicey', "... we changed course several days back to head for friendlier waters an' safety, in an area of Ireland tha' shelters outlaws such as ourselves... o' course, that could include nearly _all _of Ireland," he shrugged, "... but I digress." Jack rested his hands upon the hilt of his sword, with William was standing by his side, feet planted wide apart and hands clasped behind his back.

"We will reach our destination late in th' day, an' I have instructed Mr. Gibbs t' issue enough funds t' each o' ye t' keep ye goin' for a while. We will be making port at th' Ó Madáin Inn, after which I expect tha' ye might want t' nip on out for adventures o' your own. Mr. an' Mrs. Turner an' I shall take custody o' the Black Pearl..." Jack's face darkened, "... so don't anyone get any ideas, savvy?" Eyebrows shot up throughout the crew... even now, as loyal as the crew had been, Jack still feared mutiny and was never remiss to issue warnings.

"Th' best place t' find a good time an' be in safety would be in An Clochán, which is a rather good sized town, as good sized towns go... I assure ye tha' there are plenty o' pubs an' lovely assorted wenches t' be found at th' waterfront." A murmur of appreciation arose, as the captain continued. "Be careful, as ye're all gonna _walk_ there, mates... it isn't far. Pack some warm garments, as it is nearly November, an' the climate, here, is cool an' damp.'

'Stay outta gaol if ye can... remember, it is NOT Tortuga, but it's th' best we'll have for a few days, an' Ireland can provide some bloody good fun," the captain hesitated with a bit of a smile, as if remembering some 'bloody good fun', then continued, "... as soon as we know that its safe t' make th' crossing, we'll find a way t' let ye know... in th' meantime," the captain growled, "Stay away from the Inn, savvy?"

The crew nodded, and the only one that truly understood was Joshamee Gibbs, who smiled broadly.

As the crew went back to their duties, Gibbs approached Jack and beckoned him to the stern, as William took the wheel, again. Jack looked at his quartermaster with an expressionless face, as he anticipated what was coming.

"So, Jack... are ye going t' try to make up to her?" Gibbs grinned, nudging his captain in the arm, as Jack looked at him as if he didn't understand.

"I have no idea wot you're talkin' about, Master Gibbs," was the cryptic reply.

"You know who I mean, Cap'n. Ye had a row with her before we left th' last time." He regarded the man who was nearly like a son to him, as the captain's kohl lined dark eyes looked directly into his, and the captain leaned forward as if to confide something of great interest to him... Gibbs leaned in, eagerly.

"Gibbs..." Jack tilted his trinketed head, beads jingling and a golden smile playing at his lips.

"Aye, Jack?"

"Shut it." Jack growled, as he placed his hands up in front of both of them. "No more."

Gibbs looked crestfallen, then replied in a disappointed tone, "...aye, cap'n..." The juicy subject was closed.

۞

Elizabeth Swann Turner leaned over the railing and watched the water churn away from the Pearl's prow... she turned her eyes upward toward the horizon, and thought she saw what might be land... someone joined her at the railing, and she looked up to see both Jack and William at her side.

She turned her face back to the horizen. "Is that Ireland, Jack?" She had noticed that the waters were becoming choppier, and that the currents seemed to be more variable.

"Aye, lass... tha's me homeland," Jack replied, as William shaded his eyes with his hand. "Didja both notice th' change in how th' waters is slippin' beneath th' hull? It's rocky... creates a ripplin' feel..." William nodded slightly, but Elizabeth's mouth opened slightly. Now being aware of the sensation under her feet, she ruefully admitted to herself that she would never be the natural sailor that Jack was, and William turned out to be.

"Western Ireland is mountainous, isn't it, Jack? And Connemara is partially a peninsula, with a lot of rocky shoreline..." William looked at his shorter cousin, who was now leaning his hip against the railing and watching the horizen, himself. William had attended to the dead souls of a shipwreck off of said peninsula while still the captain of the Flying Dutchman, a fact that Jack found rather disconcerting, as the rocky shoreline was hazerdous to those who were unfamiliar with it... he was intimately familiar with it, so he had no worry about his own ship, but could not help but feel sympathy for those whose vessels were claimed by the rocks.

"Aye, lad, there are mountains, and the coastline is cliffy an' craggy, but much of it is forested, also..."

"Really, Jack?" Elizabeth seemed surprised, "I thought that Ireland was mostly farmland and meadows..."

Jack chuckled, as he looked at his young companions, "Well, much of Eire is that way, but not so much where I lived..." he stopped for a moment, amazing himself at how open he had become with these young ones who had earned his affection. "Tell ye wot... we have some time, let me tell ye a bit about County Galway, mates..." Reaching down and pulling a bottle of rum out of a coil of rope, he fluttered his hands to his friends to pull up something to sit upon, as he uncorked the bottle.

"Connemara is a region..." the captain began, "... in th' county o' Galway. Now, County Galway is in th' western part o' Eire, in a province called Connacht. The country is divided into several provinces... Connacht, Leinster, Ulster...ummm... well, Connacht is th' most important one." The captain continued, "One o' th' most interestin' things about Connemara is the marble quarries... there is a marble that is only found in Connemara, tha' comes in a myriad o' shades o'... ye guessed it... green! Like this..." he pulled around one braid, and right in the center of about two feet of hair was a marvelous, multicoloured marble bead. The Turners had always noticed it, but had not known what it was.

Jack flipped the braid back over his shoulder, and said, "There is also much whiskey and stout produced in th' area... I have sampled large amounts of both..." his hands stopping in mid-air, he mused, "Technically, one can't sample in large amounts, can one?"

Perusing this fact only briefly as the Turners looked at each other, the captain continuted, "In Gaelic, the phrase for 'whiskey' is _'uisce beatha_'. '_ Tá mé ar meisce'_ means 'I am drunk'," Jack said, matter-of-factly, inspecting his fingernails.

William and Elizabeth listened intently, grinning, as William, being related to Jack through their grandmother, Evangeline Teague Turner, was a quarter Irish, himself. He had not known this until finding out that Jack was his cousin, and Jack had even taught William a great deal of Irish Gaelic... Jack's native language.

"Now, mates, we will be entering a small body of water between Killary Harbour an' Kilkearan Bay... there will be a narrow channel tha' we will traverse an' our destination will be in a cove tha' is pretty well hidden... " Jack took a sip of the rum, and hesitated.

Suddenly changing the subject, he paused, and said softly, "... just why did ye both think tha' we need t' visit Eire?" Looking at his surprised young companions, he said, sadly, "It's me nightmares, isn't it?"

Elizabeth shifted uncomfortably at the change of conversation, as William cleared his throat a little. Turning his handsome face up to look at Jack's, he looked straight into Jack's dark eyes, and answered, directly, "... I have learned enough Gaelic from you to understand some of what you have said in your sleep, mate."

Jack looked at him in silence, his eyes almost pleading ... Elizabeth reached out her hand and placed it on Jack's thin arm, making them all look down momentarily at the branded white scar that marked him for the rest of his life as an outcast... not removing her hand, she felt a bit guilty, as she lied, "Don't worry, Jack... Will has not told me what you were saying, but the nightmares have been getting worse, love..." Squeezing his arm a bit, she searched his face as he turned it away momentarily.

Jack took another sip from the bottle, as he looked up toward the approaching coastline. Pursing his lips, thoughtfully, he said, "Aye, mates... I suppose I might say tha' I have unfinished business in me head, savvy? I know that there are things that a man can do, and things that a man can't do... I can't change anything in th' past... but I can try to mend a fence or two..." Smiling slightly at his understanding companions, he said, "Both o' you know all about that, don't ye? We've done a lot o' that, haven't we, mates?"

They all stood, and watched as the mountainous coast of western Ireland began to spread itself out like an emerald jewel... and the Turners both thought of the dark past that Jack had refered to... a past that he kept shrouded in ashamed secrecy. The young couple would never break his heart by telling him that they had known about it for some time, and knew of no other way to help him struggle with it.

۞

The crew furled canvas as the Black Pearl drew closer to the coast. Her approach was slowed in order to navigate the rocky shoreline, and just as Jack had said, they slowly sailed between a large natural rock harbour and a wide, shallow bay. Jack took the helm, as he was completely familiar with these waters, and knew the area like the back of his own dark hand. His glance lingered for only a moment or two on either side, as he guided his beloved ship into the gathering mists that were advancing from the waters... the air was cooling in the shadows, and the warmed water was sending wraithlike fog up all around them.

The vegetation thickened, as the Pearl approached the opening to the cove... trees began to hang over the water, and the rocks were covered with moss in a hundred shades of green and brown. Elizabeth marveled at the tall, almost upright granite cliffs on either side of them, and the short, stubby mountains behind them... mountains that were soft with thick, dense greenery so as to look covered in carpet from the Orient.

Jack ordered, finally, that the sweeps be run out on both sides of the ship, and that the rest of the sails be furled... utmost care was to be taken, now. The cove narrowed, and the tall trees and cliffs were enveloping the Black Pearl in deep shadows. Dots of light could be seen here and there in the distance, where there might be cottages and farms.

Finally, ahead of them, the cove was closing itself into the shape of a horseshoe, and Elizabeth could see something resembling a very large cottage surrounded by large, sheltering trees... it had two stories, and a thatched roof, and was rather sizable, with warm lights in the windows and lanterns lit upon a small dock that jutted out into the water... a little buoy bobbed around in the water about 50 yards off of the dock, and it was here that Jack ordered the anchor dropped with a loud splash.

It was then that Elizabeth caught sight of a figure coming to the door of the cottage... the figure of a woman. The figure stood there as if in shock, for a moment, then slowly began to walk down toward the dock, through the gathering mist, shading her eyes against the setting red sun in the distance. Elizabeth turned her head to regard Jack and her husband as they stood upon the quarterdeck. William was trying to see the figure more closely...

... surprisingly, Jack removed his hat, and stared with deep, dark, intense eyes...

"Mates..." he finally said, his voice almost a whisper, "...our destination...the Ó Madáin Inn..."

۞

To be continued...


	3. Janie

۞

The longboat drew closer to the small dock, and Elizabeth was able to finally get a good look at the woman who was standing on the grassy knoll that led down to the dock... she had not set foot upon the wooden boards, but had stopped stock still, staring at the approaching vessel and its occupants, with her hands upon her hips... she was especially staring at the captain, who was standing straight as a poker at the bow, holding on to a rope and doing his best to hide his nervous hands.

One hand held onto a rope, and the other hand was tucked into the front of his coat, rather like he had seen in a painting, somewhere, Jack thought ... Lord, he hoped he didn't look like Cutler Beckett, he grimaced... he had hoped he looked authoritative, but it was very hard not to see that one his thumbnails had been bitten down to the point that it was bleeding a little. His face was an immobile mask, as his gaze never broke with the woman who gazed back.

Elizabeth guessed that she might be about Jack's age... she had an aristocratic bearing, although she was wearing clothing that would not set her apart... a dark green woolen skirt, a cotton blouse that any servant might wear. She was lightly corseted, and her dark auburn hair was pulled back... only a few deep red curls blew loosely around her face. Her visage was smiling slightly, at the sight of those crewmembers whose faces she seemed to recognize, but that smile would fade a bit when her bright blues eyes would return to the captain's face. She seemed to swallow hard a few times, as she visibly smoothed her hair, and seemed to self-consciously brush her skirts into place. She finally walked out onto the dock, her booted footsteps resounding in the foggy mist that was closing all around them... Elizabeth noted that she was not tiny and slender, but healthy and strong... not the type of woman that Jack usually seemed interested in.

As the longboat bumped up against the dock, Jack looked up at the rosy cheeked woman, and softly said, "We humbly request permission to disembark, milady."

After a long stare into the captain's dark eyes, she spoke, in a light and lovely Irish lilt, "... permission granted, Captain Sparrow."

And with that, she reached down for the rope that he'd held in his hand, and they tied off the longboat and the occupants climbed up and set their feet upon the soil of County Galway.

۞

The crewmembers had gone on by night, to make their way into An Clochán, leaving Jack and the Turners to remove their sea bags from the longboat in silence, as the woman made her way back toward them ... she had walked with the crew as far as the edge of the glen, to exchange pleasantries with Mr. Gibbs, Mr. Pintel and Mr. Ragetti, as well as Marty, Mr. Cotton and of course, his parrot. She had told them of many of the pubs and taverns, and reminded them of the parts of An Clochán to avoid... they only needed reminding, as they had been here before. She had assured them that if they got into trouble, to get word to her and she would make certain that they would be taken care of.

It was plain to the Turners that many of the crew were fond of this person, and as she approached them, they put their arms around each other in silence, watching their captain standing casually, his hands draped over the hilt of his sword. His face, however, was a study of quietness.

As their hostess stood before them, hands folded in front of her, she looked at Jack and said, "Well? Are ye not going to introduce me to your companions, or are you still that rude?"

Jack frowned slightly, then very formally said, "Miss Mary Jane O'Madden, may I present my cousin, William Turner the Second, and his wife, Elizabeth Swann Turner?"

Turning to the young couple, he said, with a flourish of his hand, "William and Izzy, I would like ye t' meet Miss Mary Jane O'Madden." And he fell silent, gazing at the longboat, then at his boots, then at the sky, and clearing his throat a bit.

After exchanging greetings, they all rather clumsily stood there, looking at each other. It was then that Jack spoke, again. "Umm... I was hopin' that we might spend a few nights here at th' Inn..."

The woman stared at Jack for a moment, an entire gamut of emotions, both good and bad, running through her bright blue eyes, as she turned to the Turners and said, "I would be pleased to have you as my guests... Captain Sparrow knows that I am closed for the season, but I would be glad t' have ye stay with me for as long as ye like. He was a bit remiss in not telling ye that ye may call me 'Janie'... like he _used_ to..."

Jack looked up in surprise, "Used to?" The look that he received made him almost brace himself for a slap.

Janie took William's and Elizabeth's arms in hers as they took up their seabags in their hands, and pointedly turned them toward the inn, and just as pointedly turning all of their backs to Jack. As he watched the long braid of auburn hair swing back and forth at her back, he sighed, picked up his own seabag, and followed them, thoroughly rebuffed... and deservedly so, he thought.

۞

The Turners felt a bit sorry for their captain... he stayed several steps behind them, and could feel his dark eyes watching their backs as Janie made small talk with them up to the door of the Inn... they hesitated as they stood in the twilight, and finally, as their hostess went to open the door, Jack spoke.

"Janie... if ye want me t' turn around and go back t' spend th' night on th' Pearl, just say so..." his voice was gruff, and tired.

Janie said nothing for a moment, then finally turned and faced the captain. They stared at each other for a moment, and Jack finally removed his hat, again. Holding it in his hands, he looked at all of them, and said, "Please, Janie... I need to say somethin' before ye toss me back out into th' longboat for th' night."

Janie folded her hands in front of her again, her eyes softening and saying, "I never said that ye had to go back to the Pearl, Jack..."

As if he had not heard her, Jack closed his eyes for a moment, then spoke.

"I want all of ye t' hear wot I have t' say, savvy? William, Izzy..." Jack looked at the young couple who were hoping to finally hear what this was all about, "... I don't know where t' begin, except wif wot happened well before William came t' find me on th' Island o' th' Pelegostos..."

William looked completely surprised... it was so long ago, just after Cutler Beckett rode into Port Royal and tried to ruin all of their lives.

Jack's face was glowing in the lanternlight of the front steps, as they all gathered closer to hear his words. His face was clouded with sadness, and his hands fiddled nervously with his hat, turning it corner, to corner, to corner...

"I had been stayin' here at th' Inn, like I did every year... sometimes twice a year..." a smile flickered for a moment...

'... during this time, though, I was havin' a lot of thoughts about a time comin' up that I knew that my debt was due to Davy Jones. I had no idea wot was going t' take place, but I had grand ideas o' gettin' out o' me debt... well, you both know how that turned out..." Jack's voice trailed off a bit, as he looked down at his hat in his hands.

Raising his face back up, and his eyes were wandering back and forth to the three faces before him...

'...Janie spoke her piece one night about how she felt about some o' me decisions in me life... an' I admit, now... " Jack's eyes became vague, much to the Turners' concern, "... I admit that some of my decisions were rather foolish... maybe I should 'ave settled for another ship when me Wicked Wench went down... perhaps I should not have petitioned Jones t' get me ship back..." The captain sounded like his words were blasphemy, as he looked out at his massive beloved dark ship, resting serenely in the cove, silhouetted against the approaching twilight skies. All three faces looked at him in utter shock for a moment.

Jack continued, unaccustomed to such open confession...

'I nearly ruined all of our lives, by goin' t' Jones... I know, now, that I was not th' only one affected by my bad decisions. I used t' think that I didn't care... but I was foolin' myself. I know that we survived it all, but not wifout damage..." even in the half light, Jack's face reddened... the Turners both knew what he was refering to.

Janie's eyes softened more, as she looked at the young couple at her side, whose faces were saddened by their captain's honest words.

"William," Jack turned to his first mate, who was watching him with sympathetic eyes, "... at Tia Dalma's shack, I was not lying when I said that it was a woman that always vexes a man... you thought for the longest time that I was vexed by Izzy, here... an' that just wasn't so..."

Turning to Elizabeth, the captain took a deep breath, and said, "... Izzy... everything that I said and did on th' way t' Isla Cruces... I was... I didn't mean... I didn't know...' Jack was uncustomarily searching for words.

Elizabeth just reached down and patted Jack's arm, and said, simply,"I know, love..."

Frustrated, Jack finally hung his head and said, "When my compass wouldn't work, it was because I didn't know wot I wanted... I was vexed by a woman, alright... a fiery lassie back in Connemara, who could vex th' devil, himself..."

Janie bit her lip, and her pink cheeks pinked up even more... even her freckled nose turned a bit red with a blush.

Looking up to Janie, the captain took a deep breath and said, "I'm sorry for th' words that I said that night.. I should not have said an' done wot I did...it was cruel... please, Janie..." and he fell silent.

It was then that William and Elizabeth were able to see what they thought were tears in both their captain's and Janie O'Madden's eyes.

An awkward silence fell, and Janie finally said, in almost a whisper, "Jack... ye said a terrible thing then, but so did I... "

Tears began to spill down her rosy cheeks, as she seemed to forget that the Turners were there for a moment.

'... I had no right to say that I thought that your decisions of your heart were wrong, Jack... it is none of my business that ye wanted no other ship, and agreed to an accord with the devil, himself, but I would rather die meself than have anything happen to ye... that night, we said some ugly things to each other..."

Her hand dashed up to her face to wipe away the unwelcome tears...

'... Ye have your pride, and I always need to remind myself that the Pearl is the only home that ye have... I had no right to criticize ye, an' hurt ye...but what ye said was cruel, Jack...ye stormed out into the night and yelled over your shoulder, 'maybe I will get myself killed by Jones' beastie, an' ye'll never have t' put up with my foolishness again'... an' then ye went missing, Jack! I didn't know what happened to ye!"

The captain stared down at the hat in his hands. "I'm sorry, Janie... I nearly undid a lot of innocent lives... it undid _my_ life, completely. I am tryin' t' put some of it back together..."

"... Jack..." the darkness around them was deepening..."... Jack...what was I supposed to think?" The Irish lilt was straining not to become angry and hurt...

'...Ye didn't show up last fall, like ye always did, and I had no word from ye... and the stories started comin' back from the sea that you were dead, and your friends, here..." she put her hands through the Turners' arms, much to their surprise and slight pleasure, "... it was said that they went to find you, somehow... but if ye were dead..."

"That doesn't matter..." Jack was suddenly becoming his old animated self, his hands waving, "... I'm _not_ dead, love... I'm very much _alive_, thanks to these two... I'm sorry for everything..." his shining eyes were hopeful, as he looked up at the threesome who were standing upon the steps above him,"... Janie... please, will ye take me back as your friend?" The slender hands that did much of the captain's talking for him were now held out in front of him, appealingly...

Janie O'Madden once again wiped tears away... then smiled a little. Swallowing hard, she looked into Jack's pleading eyes, and said, hoarsely, "... what a question! I have loved ye since I was five, and you were only a wee laddie of three years old..."

William and Elizabeth broke into smiles at the thought, as Janie stepped downward, and hesitatingly into the gentle, waiting arms of Jack Sparrow. Wrapping her arms around him warmly, she buried her face in his shoulder, and began to laugh through her tears, "Ye daft fool...How can I take ye back as my friend, when I never let you go in the first place?"

As he held her close, the captain smiled and said, "Does this mean that I can some inside? I won't have t' turn 'round and spend th' night on th' Pearl?"

Janie looked up and frowned at her old friend, and nestled a fair cheek next to his bronzed one, for only a moment..."Ye'd catch your death o' pneumonia... an' I'd have t' nurse ye through that, again... I'm not of a mind t' put up with a big baby like you... I'd have to turn ye over to these two..." Jack smiled with pleasure as she gently kissed his cheek. "I can't stay mad at ye... but ye can wear a person out with worry. I'm so glad you're not dead... oh, saints above, I'm so glad..."

Arm in arm, and glad that the ice was finally broken, they all opened the door, and went into the welcoming warmth of the only place on land that Jack Sparrow might truly call a home, as the soft misty Irish fog wrapped itself around the dock, and the peacefully resting Black Pearl...

۞

Elizabeth smiled with pleasure, as they went in the door... the inn was lovely, with a warm, crackling fire in the huge stone fireplace, a huge, old leather couch directly in front of the fire, and chairs gathered in a semicircle at the ends of the couch... a flat trunk was in the center of the semicircle... a flat trunk with wear all around it's edges to suggest that it had accomodated more feet propped upon it, than anything else. None of the furniture matched, and all of it was of dubious origin, but it looked comfortable and inviting.

There was a large, heavy wooden table in the center of the great room, surrounded by 6 chairs, with a large rag rug under it, and a lovely handmade lace tablecloth covering it. There was a wooden bowl in the center of the table, surprisingly full of limes and bananas... Jack's favorite, Elizabeth thought, with surprise. An expensive luxury, unless someone might be hoping that someone else would sail in at an appointed time of year...The kitchen was an open area through one doorway, and Elizabeth could see another fireplace with a variety of cookpots hanging over it.

William was looking around, appreciating the strong, friendly stone walls and the heavy furniture... he picked up a fireplace poker and stoked the fire a bit, smiling as the warmth washed over him... he looked up at various mementos on the mantle above the fireplace... odd little figurines, a bowl of seashells, a large, friendly mantle clock with a swinging brass pendulum. Off to the side of the fireplace, he noticed a large basket full of peat... picking up a chunk, he threw it on the fire and watched the sparks fly up into the chimney. He remembered watching the sparks as a boy, when his mother would throw wood onto the fire in their home, he thought... looking around, he knew that he would like this place.

The face of Janie O'Madden had suddenly taken on a different look... a bit of a glow as she smiled at William and Elizabeth. "Please sit down by the fire... I will get a room ready for ye..."

"Janie, love... " Jack said, tilting his head appealingly,"... my cousin and his wife were just married a few months ago, when..." he stopped what he was going to say, and rerouted his sentence a bit, "... um, well, let us just say that they are newlyweds, savvy?... I brought them here for a bit of a honeymoon, as it were, an'..."

"Then it's the 'honeymoon room' for them," was the reply, as Jack frowned at Janie's retreating back as she went up the stairs, one long auburn braid bouncing, tied at the bottom with a black velvet ribbon, "... but Janie..."

"It's the couch for you, Jack..." came the curt reply, "... they are guests... you are 'you'..."

Elizabeth and William laughed out loud, as Jack sputtered, "Th' couch??? Whaddya mean, th' couch? But we always... I mean, 'I always'... the _couch_?" He blinked and muttered, "... wot about _your_ room?"

"Not used to that, Jack?" William wiggled his eyebrows at the captain, who still stared up the stairs as if to make them deny what Janie had just said.

Jack pouted at the stairway, as he looked at the large couch and said, "Well... it could have been an unheated cabin on me Pearl... I didn't _think_ she was still mad at me..." his hands dropped to his sides in mild resignation.

Elizabeth giggled a bit, as she looked up, and saw a mischievious wink of a bright blue eye from around the upstairs corner... and a wide, Irish grin... Elizabeth grinned back, as Jack plunked down onto the couch. It would be interesting to get to know Jack's old friend, Elizabeth pondered ... and maybe she could help them to help him come to terms with things...

_... to be continued..._


	4. The Little Gypsy Boy

۞

William propped his feet up on the trunk, warming the soles of his sea boots against the now roaring fire. He was watching his slight, slender cousin, who kept glancing up the stairs, with some hope in his eyes that a feminine form might make its way back down.

Soon, he got his wish, and as soon as that said feminine form did make its way back down the stairs, Jack would then act as though he wasn't the least bit interested in looking. William pursed his lips and watched as Janie kept looking at the back of Jack's braided head... then she would look away whenever he looked up. Elizabeth giggled softly as she also watched this bit of amusement, as she nestled into William under a warm wool blanket. Even with the fire upon this evening, the air was damp.

The captain had also propped his boots up on the table, nonchalantly eating a banana and glancing around to see where Janie might be. She reappeared from the kitchen with a small, simple tea service on a tray, and a small, corked bottle of whiskey, seeming to completely ignore him. As Jack wrinkled up his nose at the teapot, steaming with the beverage that he considered a scourge to mankind, Janie silently reached under a cushion of the couch, and, with a knowing look, pulled out a bottle, much to the Turners' surprise and delight... a bottle of rum, stashed there.

Jack took the bottle, and stared at it momentarily. He then looked at Janie, who looked back at him from the corner of her twinkling eye, through an auburn curl that had gone astray, and they both grinned broadly at each other. Things seemed to be forgiven.

۞

The evening went on as William, Elizabeth and Jack related the events of the last year and a half to Jack's friend, who was now sitting shoulder to shoulder with him... not as close as the Turners were to each other, but with a blanket over them, Jack was becoming a bit bolder by sidling up next to Janie, wiggle by wiggle. With the stories of World's End and the ensuing story of William being released from the Flying Dutchman... Janie solemnly regarded William's deeply scarred chest, then looked up into his serene young face... what things this trio had seen. The story was then told of the reuniting of the ones before her... the heroic tale of the restoration of William's living heart, the glorious Flash of Green, and of Elizabeth joining her husband upon the Black Pearl from her island in the China Sea.

Janie was especially fascinated by the appearance of Calypso to reward Jack and the Turners for their respect to her, by revealing their family ties to them... it was during this time that Jack had been ill, and also nearly killed by a falling mast, and that William and Elizabeth had nursed him back to health while they had revealed more of themselves to each other as family.

It was now late into the evening, and as Jack had been drinking straight rum, and the others were drinking only tea laced with a bit of whiskey, it was not a surprise when Jack dozed off, his bandana'd head resting slightly against Janie's shoulder. He had been at the wheel of the Pearl for a better part of the day, and the rum and warm fire lulled him to sleep.

"So... cousins, is it? That is a surprise to me, but then I knew very little about Jack's father...," Janie said softly, laying her cheek against Jack's black hair. William had been running his fingers along Elizabeth's cheek, as she sipped her whiskey-laced tea with great relish... Janie was right, it did ward off chills, Elizabeth thought, as she felt her own cheeks grow rosy.

"Yes, Janie, my father, Bootstrap Bill Turner, is Captain Edward Jonathan Teague's half brother. Teague is several years older than my father, so it was like our Irish grandmother produced two seperate families, really... believe me, it was a shock to both Jack and myself, but when we thought about it, it was almost as if we had all been guided to this place in time..."

William's voice trailed off for a moment... he put down his teacup, and reached over for the prefered bottle of rum that Jack had been too tired to finish, surprisingly. William made sure that Jack was nearly snoring, and he then looked at Janie seriously for a moment.

"There were other things that Calypso gave me the ability to find out about Jack while he was so sick and unconscious, Janie... things about his past... he does not know that Elizabeth and I know about the things that he won't talk about..." William studied the affect that this had on their new friend's face... she remained expressionless, except for one eyebrow quirking up a bit. Her hand reached up, and she ran a finger over the prominent scar that ran through Jack's right eyebrow, then glanced at the young couple ... Elizabeth noticed this, and nodded.

Janie let this sink in for a moment... this young couple obviously loved this odd, eccentric man that was covered with a blanket up to his braided, beaded chin... whose mustache twitched slightly as he slept... a man who had pretty much survived and raised himself to adulthood, without much help from anyone.

As the Turners simply enjoyed the fire for a few moments, Janie O'Madden found herself gazing at the captain, who was now sleeping a bit more soundly, his soft breathing becoming even more slow and relaxed... she quietly undid the leather string that held his hair together over his bandana, and removed the reindeer shinbone that was a valuable tool for lockpicking. Shaking her head, she muttered, "It's a wonder ye haven't put your own eye out with that thing, Jack..."

She ran her fingers through the now loose ebony black hair. It was still wavy, even this long, she thought... and suddenly she said to her young companions, "I first saw Jack Sparrow when I sneaked away from my governess, and wandered through the fence of my father's estate..."

۞

_...Mary Jane __Ó Madáin__ was a precocious child, only five years old and already with a penchant for wandering off from under her governess' nose. Her father was not home, most times, and not attentive to the girl-child that had taken his wife's life at birth. He had wanted a son, and had no use for a girl, even one as healthy and playful as Mary Jane was. When he paid attention to her it all, it was cold and distant attention... like as if he could not be bothered with her. She was too playful sometimes, and would find a great deal of pleasure in running off through the property, playing hide and seek under the hedges and jumping across the graveled paths, making believe that she was a pony doing tricks._

_It was a lovely summer day, warm for Connemara, and Mary Jane simply could not take behaving for one moment longer, and she merrily sneaked off to have yet another grand adventure. She ventured further than she ever had, running down the driveway and into the large thicket of trees that bordered the western edge of the property. _

_It was there that she found a hole in the wooden fence... a board had dropped to the ground somehow, and she managed to shinny through... looking around, she saw things that she had never seen from the other side of the fence! She felt as though she was on the other side of the island of Ireland... the other side of the earth... the other side of the universe! What freedom!_

_Running for all she was worth, she spread her arms as if they were wings, happily making believe she was a bird. Running down a small hillside, it was then that she saw something that surprised her greatly... a small cottage, with a clearing all around it, and a small ringlet of smoke curling from the chimney. Hiding behind some small trees, Mary Jane craned her neck for a closer view. To her delight, she saw what seemed to be a child... a little boy, playing in the grass by the doorway._

_He was very small, almost frail looking. His skin was as dark as cocoa, and his hair was shiny, deep black, with the most beautiful curls she had ever seen. His eyes were warm brown, and intently looking at something that was apparently of great interest in the grass. His most striking feature was his high, delicate fine cheekbones, quite prominent for one as little as he was. Quietly, Mary Jane worked up her nerve, and approached._

_"Hello..." she said, shyly, as the boy looked up at her. His eyes grew as round as dollars... had he never seen another child before? As she approached, slowly, Mary Jane held out her hands to show this little fellow that she meant no harm._

_He instantly giggled, and threw a rather large frog at her. _

_Jumping back and screaming, Mary Jane then felt utterly ridiculous as this beautiful little scamp crowed with glee at her. Picking up the frog, she happily proceeded to chase the little black haired boy around a tree, both of them laughing, their eyes dancing with mischief. Neither of them had ever had another playmate, and it was such a liberating joy! _

_It was then that someone emerged from the cottage, alerted by the laughter of a child other then her own... someone that literally took Mary Jane's breath away._

_She was the most beautiful creature that the little girl had ever laid eyes on. At home, her father never entertained anyone from the village, and her governess was gray with age, wrinkled with a bitter attitude. The woman that was looking around for her little boy was the most exotic thing that Mary Jane had ever seen._

_She was young, twenty at most, and had waist long, blue-black hair, tied back with a red bandana. Natural ringlet curls bounced around ,as she looked all around for her son... she was tiny, with a wasp-thin waist and dark, dark skin. Her sparkling brown eyes were set above high cheekbones... the little boy was a smaller version of his mother. She wore a bright cotton skirt, and a bright red blouse, with large hoop earrings and many bracelets. Mary Jane's eyes grew wide with wonder, as she knew that she was gazing upon a gypsy._

_As she called out, "Jack... Jack?" the small boy finally came out from behind the tree, and went to his mother, pointing back at the hiding place that Mary Jane had ducked behind... a rather large shrub. In a voice heavily accented with a pronounced and almost undecipherable Irish brogue, the woman called out, "Little girl... come out so I can see you... I won't hurt you..."_

_Mary Jane emerged from the shadow, as she could not resist getting a closer look at this curious sight. She had seen very few other females in her short life, let alone someone as lovely as this woman and her son. Her son, in his own right, was every bit as exotic and beautiful as his mother... oh, to have that black hair, Mary Jane thought enviously._

_The woman smiled at her as Mary Jane finally got brave enough to walk up to her. "What is your name, child?" Mary Jane told her. "Do you speak Gaelic?" Mary Jane told her that yes, she did... it was the native tongue to County Galway. As the boy's eyes lit up, they continued to talk in the language that all three of them could speak... the wee boy obviously did not know English._

_She found out that the woman's name was Magdalena Sparrow, and her son's name was Jack... he was three years old, and his papa was away at sea. Maggie was a seamstress and lacemaker... and she loved children._

_It was not long before Mary Jane was sneaking through the fence as much as she could... it was a great comfort to spend time with Maggie and little Jack, who was her only playmate. Maggie told marvelous stories, would sing and dance, and even taught Mary Jane to cook plain dishes, and make simple patterns of bobbin lace. What a wonderful life, she would think... it was almost like having a mother. _

_Of course, most times money was not plentiful, and it was then that Maggie would head into the forest to find nuts and berries so that she and Jack would have food upon their meager table... gypsies were people that were proud of their closeness to the earth and the sea, and all that inhabited them... but it did not keep them from starving. Mary Jane did her best to sneak small portions of meat away from home, and an occasional tin of sugar, to help stretch the Sparrows' resources a bit... _

_Even in those lean times, Mary Jane decided that the jams that Maggie would make from the berries that she would gather were the finest in the world, and she vowed to learn to put up jam... little Jack tended to agree that wild plum jam was the best, especially with his mother's bread... such simple fare was the tastiest to Mary Jane, a little girl who had all provided for her except the love of a parent. Jack and Mary Jane became inseperable, and it was all under her father's nose the whole time. These times went on, amazingly, for three years..._

_Sadly, sometimes Maggie was "not well"... she was not a strong woman, and was given to times of what seemed to be mental instability...she would sit for days at a time, her eyes unfocused and talking to herself... as if she was a bit mad... Mary Jane was never afraid of her, and little Jack would do his best to take care of his mother and himself even at his tender age, but these were bad days... _

_Little did Mary Jane know... she and Jack tried to make light of the hard times... by then, the hard times were just starting..._

_When her father found out about her clandestine "family", he flew into a black rage, and Mary Jane was confined to her room for a week, with no one to play with but her extensive collection of expensive dolls. She would never forget the words that her father had used, calling the gypsy tenants of the cottage on the farthest reach of his property "dirty gypsies", "trash", "that coloured harlot and her bastard whelp". Mary Jane's own hot little temper nearly flared at the insults hurled at her wonderful 'family', except that she knew that she would be in for a solid spanking for her insolence, as well as exile to her room._

_What she could not understand was why her father let the Sparrows stay upon the property, except for his miserly love of money... Maggie Sparrow must be keeping up on paying her rent, somehow... rumour had it that Jack's father was a famous pirate, and that Maggie's small debts were paid in gold coins. Even in Mary Jane's young mind, she also wondered if her father was attracted to the beautiful young gypsy girl, and she giggled to herself, knowing that Maggie had no use for a man such as Thomas __Ó Madáin__, and that Maggie always kept a dagger hidden under that bright cotton skirt... to spurn unwanted advances... and to protect her frail, small son... _

۞

"Your father was a landlord?" Elizabeth asked, astonished that Janie's surroundings did not reveal any of her heritage as the daughter of affluence.

"My father was a very rich land_baron_! He owned many properties... none of which benefited me," Janie said, with scorn, "...when he died, it was found that he owed money, and all of the lands were sold to pay debts. All that I ended up with is this inn, right here. Not that it bothers me at all... this is all that I need, " Janie sighed with satisfaction as she pulled the blanket closer, and unconsciously snuggled closer to the sleeping figure next to her, who smiled slightly.

"My father was as distant as he could be... even Jack's father, sailing in parts unknown, might have been a better father than mine was... I think that there was more to the story of Maggie Sparrow and Captain Teague than met the eye, but _my_ father was simply a cold, bitter man. He always wanted a son, not a daughter... ."

Janie kept running her fingers through Jack's black hair, "... strange that my father's bigotry kept him from seeing past the colour of this one's skin... he might have had an adoptive son, right here, if he had not been so blinded and hateful..."

William stretched a bit, as the mantel clock struck midnight. "Ah well," Janie smiled at her companions. "'Tis late... when ye have a mind to retire for the night, the two of ye have a very cozy little nest waiting for ye upstairs," Janie chuckled, with a wink. "We'll talk more of some of these things in the mornin'..."

She looked at Elizabeth, earnestly, and Elizabeth smiled back.

"Until then, you two, the honeymoon room awaits..."

William grinned, and the young couple giggled like children, themselves... as Jack snorted, settled himself against Janie's welcoming shoulder, and began to snore.

_To be continued..._


	5. Top o' the Morning

_**Author's note: **Sorry that this is a short chapter... it will be the last update until the weekend, as I am going out of town until Saturday! I hope that everyone enjoys it! Much more to come! Pirate Cat_

۞

Elizabeth awoke to the bright morning sun pouring in the window... Janie had left the shutters open in order to let in the light, once morning dawned. As she opened her eyes, she took in the beautiful sight of her husband's slumbering face next to hers. She was filled with utter love and happiness, as last night had been one of the most wonderful and passionate nights of her married life.

They had ascended the narrow wooden stairs, and had gone into the only room upon the second floor that had a slightly open door and a lantern lit... it's golden light had revealed a lovely room, with a huge feather bed, its gorgeous lace coverlet turned down. Fresh, crisp sheets awaited them, and the pillows were also trimmed in lace. There was even a small stove with a tiny fire lit for warmth, yet another small basket of peat beside it for fuel. Sighing, Elizabeth thought that the peat had not really been needed, as she and William had provided their own warmth in their lovemaking... this was a beautiful place, Ireland...

Looking around, she finally was able to take in the room completely by the morning light... there were pretty framed, stitched samplers upon the walls, and she looked up to see the woven thatching that made up the roof and ceiling. Off in the corner was a small table, and atop the table was a basin and a full pitcher of fresh water, along with a small stack of towels and a crockery bowl with a cake of soap. On the wide stone windowsill, was a small potted shamrock plant... a wild flower that was blooming in its small place of light, much like the innkeeper, Elizabeth thought... the trefoil leaves fluttered gently in the cool breeze from the slightly opened window.

She could hear birds singing outside, and the faroff call of seagulls at the distant mouth of the cove. There was the sound of perhaps a waterfall in the deep forest, behind the Inn... It was so hard to imagine that such ugly things that had befallen Jack as a child could happen in a place as lovely as this... but, Elizabeth thought, prejudice and hatred knew no borders...

As she lovingly ran her hand over William's tanned, naked chest, she decided to let him sleep... the aroma of fresh baked bread and coffee was meeting her curious nose, and Elizabeth thought she would happily find the source...

Quietly going down the stairs, she grinned as she looked down upon the old couch... Jack was nowhere to be seen. Only his discarded boots were on the floor, and his bandana was laying on the trunk. It was then that she heard soft snoring coming from a partially closed door off of the great room... she giggled. So he didn't have to sleep on the couch after all...

Making her way into the kitchen, she was amazed to see that it looked as though Janie had never gone to bed, except for the fact that she was wearing a different blouse, and that her hair was no longer braided. It was drawn back into a black velvet ribbon at the nape of her neck, but otherwise was flowing freely and gloriously down her back. She was as crisp and clean as the morning air, humming as she removed a loaf of fresh bread from the huge oven that was built into the inn's very wall.

"Good morning!" Elizabeth chirped, happily, as Janie turned in surprise.

"Ahhh! Mrs. Turner! Top of the morning to ye! Or as we say in Gaelic, Dia duit ar maidin!" Janie quickly put the loaf of fresh, hot bread down on a cutting board to cool, blowing on her fingers a bit...

"Please... 'Mrs. Turner' is so formal... call me... 'Izzy'..."

Janie laughed out loud, the first time that she had done so since their arrival, "'Izzy'? No doubt a nickname that the scamp snoring away in the other room gave ye. Do ye drink coffee, darlin'? Help yourself... there is some cream, here, and I even have some sugar... the milkmaid from the farm east of the road came by early, and I told her that I have late season guests, so she gave me some fresh cream, eggs and ooooh, freshly churned _butter_... Jack will think that God reconsidered and let him into heaven..."

Elizabeth laughed out loud this time, as the thought of God reconsidering Jack Sparrow was an amusing one, indeed. Nearly hugging herself, Elizabeth smiled at her companion and said, "Speaking of heaven, the feather bed was absolutely wonderful last night... what a lovely room we are staying in, Janie!"

"Is young William still snoring, himself, upstairs?" Janie asked, "I even sprinkled rose water on the bedsheets, ye know! Makes for fine lovemaking..."

Elizabeth blushed deeply at Janie's wonderful outspokenness... it was so refreshing ... in all honesty, Elizabeth had not noticed the rosewater... all that she noticed last night was her handsome husband.

As Janie poured herself a cup of steaming hot coffee, she pulled up stools for both of them and they finally sat down, two women greeting a morning that they each could both appreciate... as they savored the steaming cups for a moment, Elizabeth giggled and said, mischieviously, "So Jack didn't have to sleep on the cold, leather couch..."

Janie smiled. Smoothing a loose curl away from her face, said mysteriously, "No. I don't sprinkle rosewater on the couch..."

۞

The morning sun was warm, and the two women thought to walk outside and take in the morning air for a moment. Elizabeth was amazed at the difference from the night before... the surroundings were stunning. The water in the cove sparkled like diamonds, and the Black Pearl was quietly moored in the center, looking as if she, too, was slumbering, the water lapping quietly at her hull. Elizabeth's heart swelled with pride as she admired the ship's smooth, dark form... the longboat was firmly tied at the sturdy little dock.

The granite cliffs formed a perfect wall all around the cove, with thick trees at their bases, and moss covered rocks tumbling down into the water. Far off in the distance, at the mouth of the cove, Elizabeth could see the waters of the Atlantic.

The inn, itself, was covered in an impenetrable canopy of trees, and birds of all kinds flew all about. There was a small road leading from the inn up into the forest that had been hidden the night before... the road that the Pearl's crew had taken to find their way into town. No wonder Jack felt safe here... even with the small road, this inn was quite secluded... and no doubt, the people of this country asked no questions of those who frequented an inn off of the coast. If they paid their way, they went on their way with no trouble.

"You said that your father left this property to you when he died, Janie?" Elizabeth looked up at the stone walls, enjoying the feel of the sun upon her back as it rose over the edge of the cove's opening.

"Not exactly. He left nothing to me... I bought it when it was sold for taxes." was the reply, as Janie sipped from her mug, "... actually, I don't own the inn... someone else does...I had no money, and my husband had recently died..."

"Husband?" Elizabeth turned to look at her companion, who was looking into her mug as though something had dropped into it... she picked whatever it was out, and flicked it away from herself with a wrinkled up nose, much like Jack would.

"Aye. I was married for a short time. It was an arranged marriage... cold and loveless... a business transaction... and it was because I only had eyes for a wild young gypsy boy who had gone to sea..."

Elizabeth stared... she had heard of such things as arranged marriages, but her family had abandoned the practice, although her own father would have liked to arrange a marriage to James Norrington, she thought with a start.

Janie gazed at her, then toward the door of the inn... she had so much to tell someone like Elizabeth... so much in her heart that only another woman would understand...

It was then that William appeared at the doorway of the inn, yawning and stretching, dressed only in his breeches and boots... followed by a wobbly and bleary eyed Jack, who was only in his breeches...he apparantly had not found his boots yet. His thick hair was undone on top, and hanging in his eyes, but he was smiling a bit and rubbing his eyes in the sun...

Both of the women laughed at the pair, as William was taller and very muscled, and for a bit of show, he playfully smacked his cousin on his arm as a means of trying to wake him up... Jack was scrawny, but his handsome face, dark skin and wild black hair still made him very attractive, even if he wasn't awake... he made a face back at his taller companion, as he scratched his tattooed chest a bit.

Elizabeth was a bit disappointed that her talk with Janie was interrupted, but Janie seemed set upon continuing their conversation after breakfast... admiring the two men who were lazing about in the doorway of the inn, Elizabeth decided that perhaps she should not be too disappointed for now... with the sun shining and such beautiful surroundings, the sight of her two most loved men in the world upon this morning made her smile with deep pleasure...

"We can talk another time, darlin'..." Janie said, as she put an arm around Elizabeth's waist, "... the things that I have to tell ye will let ye know that 'pirates' do business upon land, as well as the sea, and that there are those who are worse than pirates... and that there are many, many sides to the pirate named Jack Sparrow..."

_to be continued..._


	6. The Darkness of Instability

_**Author's note: **Alright, mates, I can't resist... I will leave ye with one more chapter before I go out of town for a couple of nights... this will have t' tide ye over until Saturday or Sunday! Pirate Cat_

۞

Jack had, indeed, thought that he had been reconsidered for entrance into heaven as he saw the crock with fresh butter... his hand was slapped smartly by Janie when he dipped a finger into it, rather indelicately. There was also a small pot of wild plum jam, and the captain smiled.

Janie watched his eyes as he picked it up and tasted it... it was no surprise that it tasted just like his mama's, as it was Maggie who had taught Janie how to make it... Mama... wild plum jam... he had been picking the last of the wild plums of the season... Mama was sick...

...and ever so suddenly, Jack could not breathe... he could not move... his mind went blank... and then images... the forest... the sound... he swallowed hard...

He stood this way for a few minutes before anyone noticed, as Janie sliced bread, and Elizabeth and William were pouring mugs of coffee... it was William who turned to his cousin, only to find him staring at the sunbeams that streamed through the back doorway... the pot of jam in one hand and the other hand, shaking slightly, poised in midair... "Jack?"

Jack only moved slightly... his head tilted to one side a bit, and his eyes seemed to focus on nothing... as if he was hearing something that was not there... he started to tremble harder...

William walked over to the captain as he always did when the captain's grasp on reality began to slip, and took his face into his hands, making Jack look at him... trying to make him focus his eyes. "Jack? Cousin?"

There was no response... only a slight mutter of something that no one understood.

William finally had to shake Jack's narrow shoulders in his hands to snap him out of it...suddenly, Jack blinked several times and shook his head so hard that the beads in his hair clattered together, breathing hard for a few gasps. Staring at William momentarily, he mumbled, "Sorry. I got lost for a bit..."

Elizabeth immediately went over to an astonished Janie, and whispered, "It happens all of the time... when Jack spoke of 'damage' last night... well... he hallucinates and loses himself a great deal...it's harmless, most times."

Elizabeth's face was pleading with Janie to understand, and she gently tapped the side of her own head, out of Jack's view, as Janie's face grew concerned..."This was mild, but it has gotten worse since he was hit by the mizzenmast... "

Janie mused, "... just like Maggie...Is the mizzenmast what left the fresh scar on his forehead?"

Jack turned and looked at the two women, and they fell silent.

"There is no need to whisper. I can hear you... there is nothin' wrong wif me ears, ladies... only me head..." he said,"...Yes, Janie, me Pearl gave me this..." he ran a finger over the fresh scar that ran along his hairline, shrugging a bit... "Izzy did some fancy needlework an' put in 12 stitches..."

Sighing, the captain licked some jam off of his finger, and said, sadly, "... too bad she couldn't fix th' inside o' me head..."

William jokingly put his arm across Jack's shoulder, and said, gently, "Well, mate, I could try hitting you a few more times in the head to see if your brain falls back into place..."

Everyone laughed, as Jack replied, with a huge flourish and a sway, "... I don't think that would help much, whelp. My brain is about as scrambled as those eggs, there...I imagine I had better put me bandana back on..." and embarassed, he went off to find his boots and bandana by the fireplace in the great room.

As the others kept preparing for breakfast in the kitchen, Jack sat down on the couch to pull on his boots, and he regarded his bandana laying on the trunk... he once again thought of his mother, and her mental instability... sighing deeply, he put his head into his still shaking hands, and hoped that he would not have one of the nightmares that had been plagueing him for Janie to witness...

He wished that he could find the courage to tell William and Izzy about what haunted him so... they deserved to know, but would it change how they felt about him? ... to know that he was beaten and degraded in ways that a six year old boy should not have to endure, because he was dark skinned and could not speak English at the time... the half-gypsy son of a pirate... considered by many to be the lowest of the low, and sold into bondage to keep him away from the only friend that he had because he was considered trash... the deepest shame in being that for three years no one cared enough about him to find Captain Teague... his father had sent gold coins, thinking that Maggie was receiving the money... it was not until later that they found out that the money had been intercepted by another... and Jack was nearly beaten to death on a ship on the coast of Africa... a ship that was capturing more slaves to sell...

He didn't know how many times he had been knocked unconcious by the handle of a whip... he had not even told Janie of the fact that both of his wrists had been broken at the same time, once, by the son-of-a-bitch that had claimed ownership to him, because Jack had tried to escape, then he was sent back to swab the deck of the ship that he was held captive upon, even with both wrists broken... he had fended off being raped more times than he could remember, simply by being feisty enough and fast enough to get away from groping hands... he chuckled mirthlessly, as he had found out just how hard he could bite someone... all of this before he was nine years old.

How he wished that he had the courage to tell them... but he knew he could never bear it if William and Izzy changed how they felt, if they knew he'd been shackled as a slave and not big enough or smart enough to escape... he wasn't "Captain Jack Sparrow" yet...he was just a pathetic little boy... his mental problems had even started, then, he was sure...and with the cracks that were driven so deeply into his mind by the Locker, how could he make it in life, now, without them, if they were ashamed of his mental helplessness, at times? He would always live in that fear...

Even as cousins, would they stay with him, or would they leave him to fend for himself, because he was just too much to worry about? They would start a family, soon, he was sure, and would he be left behind? Now that Janie knew of the encroaching madness plagueing him, would she abandon him? He shuddered ... even more than death, he was terrified of being left completely alone, and mad... like he was in the Locker.

It would be thirty years ago... thirty years ago this very month that his mother had died and his innocence had died with her... not one November went by that he did not think about it... and now it was bringing on nightmares...

Even rum didn't stop the nightmares... even on a ship with a full crew, or at an inn among those he that he loved, he still sometimes felt so isolated...

As he slowly pulled on his boots, and tied his hair back up into its leather string and bandana, he did not know that he was being watched by three pairs of sympathetic eyes from the kitchen...those who wished that he would simply talk about the horror filled memories that stubbornly would not let go of him...

۞

Jack finally composed himself, and rejoined his friends in the kitchen... he would push away the thoughts one more time... coffee, perhaps, with cream, might help, although it was mostly the closeness of his friends that was what he needed.

Looking up as he came back into the kitchen, hands adjusting his bandana over his forehead, Janie smiled at him, and wrapped her arms around his slender waist, tugging at the long dreadlocks that flowed down his back, and Jack felt a pleasant warmth wash over him that no coffee could ever produce...

She leaned into him for only a moment, whispering, "... are ye alright?"

Smiling wryly, as William and Elizabeth watched out of the corners of their eyes, Jack tried to muster up yet another healthy dollop of bravado, as he swept his arms to his sides and said, grandly, "... ladies and gentlewhelp... how about a nice lump or two o' mental instability wif your coffee?"

He dropped his arms to his sides, looking at Janie sadly... her arms were still wound around his waist... and he said, ""... there ye have it, love... it's bloody embarassing... a bit o' th' madness that is a part of the 'new Captain Jack Sparrow'..."

Spitting on her thumb and smoothing a bit of the jam out of his dark mustache, Janie lightly kissed him, and said, softly,"... 'new'? Saints above, ye fool, madness was _always_ there, it's just a bit worse, now... it's a part of your charm... perhaps_ I _should be the one to smack ye in the head now and then, not William."

She had no idea how much of a difference that small comment made to Jack... perhaps his mental weaknesses would not drive his Janie and his cousins away...

"Janie, dearie, ye think that me bouts wif loopiness is a part o' me charm? I thought it was me quick wit and incredible good looks..." Jack's showed off his gold teeth...William nearly choked on his own coffee, as Elizabeth slapped him on the back...

Jack batted his eyes innocently, as William recovered, coughing and sputtering, running a hand over his now pounding restored heart, "You forgot about how charming your _modesty_ is, too, cousin..." The somber mood of a few minutes before was broken, and everyone was smiling once more.

Elizabeth walked over and handed her captain a fresh mug of coffee... placing a hand upon his arm, she looked at him knowingly and said, "Jack... we have had several lumps of your mental instability with our coffee, tea and rum ever since the morning that you sailed into Port Royal..."

Jack thought it over for a moment, then smiled brightly at her, cocked his head, and said, "Izzy, I shall take that as a compliment, darling..." She nodded earnestly, as William still coughed a bit, muttering, "... and I'm related to him..."

Jack grinned... he loved having this family... if he could only be completely assured that they would keep him, always...

۞

Janie was serving up a fine breakfast of eggs, bread, butter, jam, and more fresh hot coffee with cream. The captain was seriously considering a fourth slice of bread with butter and jam, when William stood up, and went over to the open back door of the kitchen... something odd was getting his attention, and it might be out of the ordinary for this part of Ireland, he thought.

"... Janie... does anyone around here use wood for fire?"

"... wood? No, William, most use peat since it is much easier to get, with the peat bogs just on the other side of the mountains, there... it's too hard to dry wood well enough in the damp climate here to use it for firewood..."

"... could someone be burning a wood fire that maybe brought the wood with them?"

"... well, aye... but... why?"

Jack got up from the table and joined William at the doorway... immediately, he also smelled the tangy aroma of wood smoke... a rarity in this area... someone had a campfire out in the forest, and if it was a wood fire, it was someone who was not from the area. Someone who might pose a threat.

William turned to Jack and said, "It might not be anything, but it merits a look, cousin... what do you think?"

Jack shrugged, and replied, "Aye... a walk through th' woods on a bright, cheery morning such as this might be good for th' constitition..."

William frowned and said, "What does that mean?"

Jack took a huge bite from another piece of bread and shrugged, again, "I don't know... I heard it whilst I was in gaol once, and I always wanted t' say it..." William shook his head slightly, and Jack grabbed the heel of the bread from the cutting board as they all went for the rest of their clothing.

The foursome finally got fully dressed, and quietly made their way through the thick forest... they traveled against the wind that was carrying with it the aroma of a wood fire... curiosity arose in them more than anything, as it was such a sunny, bright day it would be foolhardy for anyone to draw unwanted attention to themselves if they were up to anything that would be considered underhanded... even so, each of them had a weapon drawn, as it was still a wild land, and if they should happen upon anything unsavory it was best to already have sword or dagger in hand. Janie surprised the Turners by having a dagger very much like William's under her skirt... but then, she was a single woman running an inn by herself, and was used to the untamed nature of some of her guests.

The smell of the wood smoke became stronger, and the sound of voices could be heard in the woods just beyond them. William indicated to Elizabeth and Janie that Jack wanted them to fall behind a bit... an order that was met with frowns from both of them, but orders from the captain, nonetheless... they grudgingly held off only a few paces, as they did not wish to let the backs of the pair ahead of them out of their line of vision.

Crawling along in the underbrush... Jack finally was able to look up over a ridge... and his eyes grew wide with surprise. As William joined him, his face split with a grin, and he patted Jack on the back as he did so. Looking back to the two women who were now piqued with curiosity, William put his finger to his lips and indicated that this was to be handled by the captain, who could barely stop smiling enough to let out a long, low, loud whistle... they all waited in anticipation, Janie and Elizabeth not knowing what they were waiting for. They looked at each other in silence, wondering what might be over the ridge that had the two men in such a glad state.

The voices in the forest went silent for several moments... then a loud voice called out, in English, "Who goes there?"

Jack's husky voice answered, "'Tis meself an' three others, mate... I am th' son of Magdalena Sparrow... an' we come in peace..." He repeated himself in Gaelic, so as to make himself completely and clearly understood. His excitement was almost contagious... Jack seemed to fairly want to leap over the ridge... he could barely contain himself, as William kept looking back at the women and winking.

Silence fell again... then a long, low, loud whistle emerged from over the ridge, indicating that it was safe to come forward...

As Janie and Elizabeth advanced upward to join William and Jack, they straightened up and walked slowly down the hillside into a glen, sheathing their swords... and much to Elizabeth's wondering eyes, they walked into a circle of the most colorful and unusual wagons that she had ever seen, with a large welcoming campfire... a crowd of excited people were approaching them, smiling people who were dark skinned and black haired, dressed in the most colorful and bright clothing... Elizabeth and Janie both stared with wonder...they had entered the encampment of a rather sizable band of gypsies...

_To be continued..._


	7. The Gypsy Camp

۞

As Jack and William slowly walked down the wooded ridge into the glen, their hands raised slightly to make certain that it was plain that they meant no harm, Janie and Elizabeth took each other's arm and followed them closely. A large man, with a huge graying mustache and a bright toothy smile was walking toward them, his right hand extended, and his dark eyes sparkling with delight.

"Ahhh, Captain Jack Sparrow... the son of Magdalena! " he boomed, "...Welcome to our camp! May I introduce meself as Padraig Kerrigan! Welcome, everyone, welcome!"

"Thank ye, mate! Meet me cousin and th' first mate o' th' Black Pearl, William Turner the Second', is wife an' me Quartermaster Second Mate, Elizabeth Swann Turner, an'... ummm... " Jack swayed around rather grandly, his hands in midair, and stared wide-eyed at Janie, who frowned with her hands on her hips,"... ummm... me _friend_, Janie O'Madden..."

Janie leaned to Elizabeth and whispered, "For a moment I was worrying what he was going to say!" Elizabeth laughed, as hands were shaken all around. Janie even curtsied a bit when Padraig kissed her hand, and William bit the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling as Jack looked on a bit jealously. He quickly pulled Janie to his side and away from the other men, who were loudly talking to all of them in a grand cacophany of both English and Gaelic. As the crowd of about 20 people gathered around, Padraig kept slapping Jack on the back to the point that Jack winced a little... this was a very large man, with curly, graying hair and a large middle, tied with a blue striped sash.

Elizabeth was amazed at how much these people seemed to know about Jack and William, both, and they were being treated with a great deal of respect and esteem. Jack, of course, was delighted, and William seemed to be enjoying it a great deal, himself.

Janie watched it all with a smile, her bright blue eyes looking all around at the men and women who were milling about, trying to get a glimpse of the great Captain Jack Sparrow... she leaned back over to Elizabeth and said, "... Jack is very famous among the gypsy people. Gypsies know a great deal about a great many things, and even if they do not tell all that they know, they are very proud of their own... it's really too bad that Jack did not spend more time among his own people..."

Elizabeth nodded, sadly. "... I know... " she watched the men of the tribe shake hands with Jack and William, and was quite struck at how much Jack would have blended in with his own race... they were all dark, some wearing bandanas and simpler sashes, many of them with long braids and puffy sleeved shirts... all of the men wore boots of some kind, but Jack and William were definitely set apart by their more elaborate sashes and their sea boots... even William looked at home among these dark Irishmen, his handsome face smiling, and the others unashamedly pulling open the front of his shirt to view the massive scar across his chest... it seemed that William was a legend, himself, among these people, and it was only more amazing to them that William was Jack Sparrow's cousin.

"Please, come and sit in the sun by my wagon! Meet my wife!" Padraig swept a beefy hand before them, as he smiled at Janie and Elizabeth. The two women grinned back, as an equally robust woman with a bright purple shawl approached, her hands extended in friendship. "The son of Magdalena Sparrow, in our camp! Welcome, Captain Sparrow! I am Molly Kerrigan... I have the good fortune of being married to Padraig!"

She surprised Jack dreadfully, by throwing her arms around him in a strong embrace, and then doing the same with William, "And William Turner the Second, the legendary captain of the Flying Dutchman!" William cleared his throat and simply said, "Yes, ma'am." Even he was taken aback by her enthusiasm, a bit.

They all sat in small wooden chairs in the shade of the cool morning, by Padraig's caravan, with Molly bringing out steaming cups of coffee... Jack wondered to himself if there was any rum in the camp but thought it best not to ask, especially when Janie seemed to be reading his thoughts and shaking her head at him...

Finally, as the other tribe members lingered to stare at the most famous gypsy pirate that they had ever known, Jack smiled brightly and leaned forward, his animated hands waving, "So, Padraig! Am I t' assume that you must be the elder o' th' tribe? And wif a good Irish name am I t' assume that your tribe has been in Eire for some time?"

"Aye, lad, that's true. My tribe has been in Ireland for several generations, now!'

"Why do you have an Irish surname, if I might ask?" Elizabeth was truly curious, as Janie quietly sipped her coffee, sitting close to Jack, whose arm had slipped around her shoulder. Janie nodded her thanks to Molly, who was sitting down to join them.

"Well, lassie, gypsies many times will take on a family name of the country that they live in, and Ireland is our home... it has been for over a hundred years, as it was Jack's tribe..."

Jack's eyes clouded over, as he cleared his throat a bit, and steered the subject away from his own clan, "Do ye travel around Connacht, or are ye truly sons o' all of Eire?" It was not like everyone did not notice his reluctance to talk about his own tribe, but no one said anything, although William exchanged a glance with Jack, who looked away.

Padraig waved a heavily ringed hand, and said, "Our tribe stays mostly up in the northern part of the island, in Ulster province, but there has been some to-do, politically, in those parts that we don't want any part of... the Scots are coming across th' channel in droves..." Jack leaned forward and said something in Gaelic that Elizabeth could not understand, nodding toward her, and William added something... she grew a bit uncomfortable as all eyes looked her way, but Janie patted her hand and assured her with a wink and a nod... Jack smiled proudly.

William took Elizabeth's hand and said, softly, "The English are having a bit of a time with the Scots... religion... and the Scots are having to flee their own land... they are coming into northern Ireland because they are being persecuted for their beliefs. " he hesitated. "Jack said that even though you and I are English, we are pirates, and we are subjects of no soveriegn..."

Elizabeth frowned with displeasure at the thought of the crown encroaching upon Scottish soil, as she said, "I find that intolerable... the Scottish people and the Irish people have been on their lands for thousands of years, but to drive them away from their homes? It seems that the King believes that the empire is never large enough."

Jack tilted his head and finished the thought, rather bitterly, "Now the Scots are being persecuted for their religious beliefs... isn't _that_ a change, now... prejudice has expanded to include criteria other than colour an' lifestyle!"

Padraig patted Jack's shoulder, as he said, sympathetically, "Jack, lad, we stay away from the crown just like you do... ye've done alright for yourself considering that ye went to sea so young... it's just a shame that your own tribe was wiped out in the fever epidemic that took your mother thirty years ago... ye're quite a legend among us, ye know, as is your mother... legend says that she had quite a gift for music, Maggie did... they say that she could make a tambourine speak and a harp sing like the angels..."

Jack's eyes darted all around, and he smiled uncomfortably, and said, "... she was playing her tambourine th' night tha' she met me father in Dublin, at a pub..." his voice grew quiet as he said, "... I have nothin' o' hers except this bit o' lace on me wrist, here... I should have liked to know me own tribe... but ... ," he shrugged, lightly and said, "...they're all dead, now... "

Just then, it was noticed that they were being observed by a pair of dark, warm brown eyes from around the back of the caravan... Molly laughed as she beckoned the owner of said eyes around to her waiting lap. "Ye just can't help yourself, can ye, Allan?"

A small boy, with a ready smile and a chubby build, ran around into the stout woman's arms, as they all laughed, welcoming the distraction... Jack's eyes got round and he said, "An' who might you be, laddie? Th' next king o' th' gypsies, eh?"

Padraig frowned at the boy, as the small one giggled at the faces that Jack was making at him. "Can't resist takin' a better look at Jack Sparrow, eh?" Padraig said," Well, ye've had your look, boy, now off with ye..."

Little Allan looked disappointed as he was shooed off by Molly... Padraig explained, "His parents are dead... their horses were frightened while we were traveling a few years back and their caravan overturned into a glen... Allan survived, and Molly and I took him in... "

Janie and the Turners saw the pained look come over Jack's face, as they all knew what he was thinking... perhaps another tribe might have taken him in when his mother died, too... except that he was taken to sea... very, very suddenly... and very, very brutally...

۞

Elizabeth and Janie walked about the camp, enjoying visiting with the women of the tribe... they all spoke English with heavy brogues, and Janie reminisced about Jack's mother a great deal... none of them had met Maggie, but they had heard so much of her son. It was not well known that Jack was half-gypsy, but it was obvious that these people were very proud of him for making a name for himself in the world outside of theirs... being a sailor and a pirate was not much different to them than their own way of life.

Padraig's wife, Molly, watched Elizabeth with a discerning eye, as if she could see something there that others could not... the jolly woman invited Janie and Elizabeth into the caravan for a while, whilst she was taking in her clean clothing and folding them, to be put away in a drawer that was above her's and Padraig's bunk. Elizabeth smiled and said, "This is not much different than the cabin that Will and I share on the Black Pearl! Where does Allan sleep?"

"Ahh, lass, he sleeps right here!" Molly laughed, as she pulled a smaller bunk out from underneath the one that she and Padraig shared. "We pull it out every night, but he will soon be big enough that he may have to sleep on the top of the caravan!"

The women all laughed, as Janie appraised Elizabeth with a critical eye, "How snug is that cabin that your captain forces ye to sleep in, then? Where is the baby going to sleep?"

Elizabeth turned to stare at her friend, as her mouth dropped open. "What baby?"

"The baby that the two of ye will be having someday, "Janie answered, rather cryptically... much like Jack would.

"Well! I..." Elizabeth sputtered a bit, as suddenly Molly took her hand and turned it over, palm up. "What..." Elizabeth began to pull her hand away, but Janie gently took her elbow and had her sit down. Looking from Molly to Janie, and back, again, Elizabeth stammered, "You're reading my palm, aren't you..." Suddenly fascinated, she let the gypsy woman study her hand without struggling...

Molly ran a finger over the lines, lightly, her dark eyes twinkling, and a smile spreading slowly across her broad face, "... ye have a long life line... I see great happiness and a long marriage to your young man... and I also see... hmmmm... " Elizabeth was staring hard at her, her mouth forming a small 'o' and her eyes wide. Janie's arm rested across her shoulder, gently, as Molly whispered, "... I see a child... named after his father!"

Elizabeth blushed deeply...

_To be continued..._

۞


	8. Wild an' Free

۞

William had broken away from the fine storytelling that he and Jack had been partaking in around the warm morning campfire... the dew and mist were heavy in the glen, and the fire was a welcome one... he and Jack had been telling many tales of their adventures since they had met, and Jack, of course, had many, many stories of the high seas that had taken place over his entire life. He embellished them, naturally, but all sea men did, William included, these days. William pondered how much he, himself, had changed since meeting this peculiar man who was waving his arms and imitating Hector Barbossa's voice... and doing a fair job of it.

William wandered over to the tie line... there was a pair of horses there for each caravan, and they were horses like he had never seen. Having been a young blacksmith, he had seen plenty of horses in his time, but they were all the larger animal favoured by the British military... sleek chargers with long legs and high strung temperament. There were a few draft horses in Jamaica, also, but seldom were they shod with shoes... and there were donkeys... always donkeys.

These horses were shy and balked at his presence, eyeing him warily... they did not like strangers, and it was only until he was able to patiently win them over with slow movements and his gentle manner did they let him touch them... they then instinctively understood that he meant no harm to them, and nickered softly as William admired them. They were well muscled, with intelligent eyes, and were worthy of admiration... much like those who inhabited this camp, he thought.

A husky voice behind him made him turn with a start, "Beautiful, aren't they, cousin?" Jack had now also broken away from the group at the campfire, as the gypsies all began to go about their daily tasks of caravan life...

"Yes! I have never seen a breed like them, Jack," William stood back with his slight companion, "What kind of horse, are they, I wonder."

"Well, lad, gypsies sometimes will selectively breed an animal to suit the purpose of the tribe, really." Jack did not approach the animals at the tie line, but he admired them, as well... the horses regarded him with curious eyes, "They really aren't a 'breed', per se, but are specialized t' Irish gypsy caravans... much like one would fit out a ship like me Pearl... I had 'er fitted out t' my specifications... an' these horses 'ave been 'fitted out' for caravans, if you want t' think of it that way."

They were unusual, with long, silky manes and tails. They were almost like a Shire, and had bright, colourful markings of brown, chestnut and black against white. The most unusual feature was the profusion of hair on their legs. William noted this and said, "The 'feathers' on their legs are to protect the fetlocks from briars and underbrush... but I would bet that they are a sight when they run, flying out like wings on their feet!"

"Aye, William," Jack agreed, "Wild an' free... " he finally held out a hand, and one of the animals reached out a velvety muzzle and nudged it... Jack finally petted it, softly. "Wild an' free..."

"Much like us... much like the crew of the Black Pearl... " William added, quietly, looking meaningfully into his captain's dark eyes. It was during times like this that they both realized how alike they were.

"I'm wonderin'," Jack perused, "... if our shared grandmother had any gypsy blood..."

"I almost wish that she did," William smiled, feeding a handful of grass to a fiesty little mare who had stomped a hoof impatiently, "... not only do I feel the Irish blood rushing through me since we arrived, but I almost feel like a gypsy, also...like I belong here..."

"We all have a bit o' gypsy in us, Will," Jack said, watching as Janie and Elizabeth stepped into the Kerrigan's caravan with Molly, "... some just let it show more 'n' others, savvy?" His brown eyes lingered on Janie's long auburn hair as she disappeared into the wagon.

William observed this of his captain... Jack had made a habit of letting emotion show in his face with William, especially when Elizabeth was not present... a form of deep trust that was rare for Jack. There was quiet between the two of them for a long moment... nothing could be heard except for the chirping of the birds in the forest around them, and the voices of the gypsies as they went about their tasks, still admiring the captain and his first mate from afar, waving to them in a welcoming and cheerful manner.

William finally spoke. "Jack, I am going to make this my business, whether you want me to, or not." Jack turned and looked at William quizzically, wondering what William was about to say.

The handsome young pirate finally took a deep breath, and said, "... why don't you tell her that you love her?"

Jack's expression did not change, except for a bit of mild surprise. William went on... he had been thinking about this ever since they arrived... ever since seeing the look in his captain's eyes that had never been there before.

"A poet once wrote that 'no man is an island'... you have isolated yourself for so many years, Jack, and I know that there was good reason in the past... you simply have not cared to divulge what the reason, or reasons, are..." Jack's eyes softened and looked away for a second, then went back to his young cousin's face.

"Jack, please don't keep isolating yourself from Janie or us... show us the other side of 'the island'... you love her, and it is very plain... she loves you with all of her heart, and maybe it might not be a 'marrying' kind of love, but it is love! Express that to each other, in no uncertain terms... let there be no doubt."

William took another deep breath, and said, "Elizabeth and I love you, Jack... there, I have said it, mate, right to your face... You are our family... we will _never_ desert or abandon you. Terrible things have happened to you in the past that we hope you will get off of your chest with us... but until then, at least try to tell Janie that you love her... you told me on the Black Pearl, one night, when we realized that we had not lost our friendship, to not to lock my heart away from Elizabeth... a fine piece of advice coming from one who has locked away his heart so much that it might as well be in the Dead Man's Chest..." William's hands were gripping Jack's shoulders hard, by now..."... tell her, Jack... show us the other side of the island..."

Jack was utterly astounded as he looked at his best friend... and he realized that this was why they were best friends... His eyes turned back to the women that were now emerging from the caravan, and his heart skipped a beat when the sun shone on the tall, strong Irish woman that had an arm around his first mate's bonnie lass. They were laughing with Molly, who was now sitting down with Allan in her lap, playing a cat's cradle game with him with a length of red string... the very string that Jack would use to tie his long braids.

Turning to William, he said, in almost a croaking voice, "Ye think I should say something?" William nodded, "... remember how you left here that last time... and it nearly broke both of your hearts... you were a vexed man, Jack!"

"'No man is an island...'" Jack mused, taking in the sight of Janie and Elizabeth walking toward the edge of the glen, along the stream that was tumbling down from the hillside and over some rocks. "Where did ye hear that saying, lad?"

"It was in a book of poetry in your cabin." William stated, simply.

"I haven't read that one yet..." Jack said softly, wishing that he had.

۞

Janie and Elizabeth stood at the bank of the crystal clear stream, listening to the sound that the water made as it danced along the rocks and edges... it was a comforting, happy sound...

As if in answer to a question that Elizabeth was about to answer, Janie said, "Aye, lass, ye hear a waterfull behind the inn... it's wonderful for bathing in warmer weather, but its too late in the season, now... too cold!" She looked at the pair over by the tie line, petting the horses... the shorter, slighter one with the slouch in his stance, tricorn hat set crookedly upon his braided head, and the beautiful, beautiful dark face gazing at her... she blushed a bit, even at this distance, thinking of the waterfall in warmer weather, and what they had done there... her heart skipped a beat...

Elizabeth was lost in thought for the moment, as she ran a hand over her middle and then looked at her palm... "Janie... "

"Aye..." By now, the older woman had hiked up her green skirt and was tiptoeing along the water's edge, bent over and looking into it's clearness. She picked up a handful of stones, then straightened up.

"Janie... do gypsies keep a midwife among them?" Elizabeth asked, almost shyly. Her hazel eyes shone, as she looked at her friend, who was now mildly smiling and cleaning some pebbles in her own palm.

Janie tilted her head, and pushed stray auburn curls behind an ear... "... was Molly's fortune more correct than ye let on, Izzy?"

Elizabeth dipped her head away from looking over at her husband in the distance, and ran a hand across her stomach, again, "... I might be with child... I want a baby..."

Janie put the pebbles into the pocket of her skirt, and then came over to her young friend. She wrapped her arms around her, much like a mother would, and said, "Aye, lass... gypsies almost always have a midwife among them... we'll come back in a day or so, and we'll find out..." Elizabeth hugged Janie tightly... she thought that she could detect the aroma of Jack's coconut fragranced hair oil in Janie's curls, and she giggled... It was wonderful to have a new friend to talk to... a wonderful friend who also happened to be a woman.

Arm in arm, they walked a ways further along the babbling stream... and Elizabeth became a bit braver.

"You said that you were married, once, Janie... to a man that you didn't love. What happened?"

Janie stopped in her tracks, and regarded her companion, who was now looking at her with wondering, curious eyes... they had started to talk about this before breakfast, and Elizabeth was still thinking about it.

Janie spread her skirt out and sat down upon a rather large boulder, one that was covered in soft, green moss... and patted the stone next to her, for Elizabeth to settle in for a story... Elizabeth also smoothed out her soft cotton skirt that William had gotten for her at a marketplace in Africa, and listened. Janie took a deep breath, and surprisingly, crossed herself.

"... I was sixteen when my father informed me that he had arranged a marriage for me... Jack, of course, was traveling all about the world at sea, then, with Bill Turner most of the time... Jack would come back to Ireland as much as he could, and we would meet, secretly, to tell each other stories and hide away from the world..." Janie's eyes grew distant with the memories as Elizabeth was quiet, "... I hated my father... I hated everything that he stood for, everything that he did... I hated the very air that he breathed..." Janie's voice had unbelievable venom in it, for a moment, and then it softened.

'Jack came back to Connemara, and one night, there was a sound at my window... it was Jack, throwing pebbles at the glass... he had seen the light in my room and knew I was there... he and Bill had parted ways for a while, as Bill had a new baby son to meet...young Will! Jack had been traveling about on this ship and that one, and was making his stop to see me before he headed for the Caribbean..."

"Well, I climbed down the tree limb that was outside of me window, and we ran off to the barns at the back of the property... we would always climb up into the hay loft, when he came back - he would always stay there while he was in Connemara, and I would always sneak food to him... we were nothing more than children up until then, but I hadn't seen Jack in more than a year, and believe me, lass, we had both... ummmm... 'blossomed' a bit!" Janie crinkled up her nose in pleasure at the thought, and Elizabeth laughed.

'I had become quite 'shapely', as it were, and Jack... well, he was quite proud of the pathetic whiskers that he was attempting to grow! Ahhhh, even then he was fine to look at for a skinny little fellow... and so sweet...but already scarred, inside and out..." her voice trailed off, a bit, as her hand unconciously went to her throat, where yet another blush was starting... Janie's cheeks grew rosier.

"... He could tell, even in the darkness, that I had been weeping on that day. I then told him that my father had arranged to pay off one of his debts to the money lender by promising my hand in marriage! Imagine... using his own daughter as collateral...ohhh, I hated that man..."

"... the worst thing was, there was no way that I could get out of it... Jack had no ship of his own, although he wanted me to run away with him... I couldn't... I wasn't brave enough, and Jack nearly starved to death, himself, most times... that's when he developed scurvy..." Janie tapped the area on her jaw where Jack had a red scar that flared up now and then..."... that's why he craves limes... but I am straying..."

"I spent the night crying in his arms in the hay loft..." Janie's voice became a whisper, "... I was betrothed to a hateful old man with clawlike hands... hands that were cold and stained with the taint of money, always... a man who was old enough to be my grandfather... I could only hope that he died before our wedding... but he didn't...

Elizabeth put her arm around Janie... who was now fighting back tears at the memory of her father's coldness... if Elizabeth only knew just how horrid a man he was, Janie thought.

"... well, darlin', that night... as I was in the arms of the boy that I loved with all of my heart... I knew that I my spirit, deep down inside, was as free as Jack's was... I might never be able to flee from things, physically, like he could, but my heart would always be only mine to give... my mind would always be mine to use as I wished... and my body would be given to someone that I loved... someone who had always treated me as much like a lady as he knew how, and always loved me back..." Janie's jaw set, visibly, as she confided to Elizabeth something that she had never confided to anyone else...

'That night I gave up a part of me that my husband-to-be, Sean O'Hennessey, would never, ever have for himself... and I gave up that part of me to my lifelong friend... Jack Sparrow... that night was the very first time that we made love..."

A silence fell between the two women, as Elizabeth thought about the importance of what Janie had just said... and Janie, sighing deeply, said, "I hope that you are with child, my dear... " as she got up from where she had been sitting, turning to wait for Elizabeth. "You and your William deserve that happiness so much, and I know that Jack would be thrilled at having another cousin... he cares about the two of you so deeply, ye know..."

Putting her arm through Elizabeth's, she said, softly, "I was with child only one time... it was not Jack's, it was my terrible husband's... I miscarried, and I was glad, although I might burn in hell for thinking that, even if the pregnancy was a result of marital rape...one's rapist isn't a rapist when one is married to him, I suppose... if it had been Jack's child, I would be mourning it to this very day..."

As they walked along in silence, Elizabeth finally spoke. Gently, she said, "You love Jack so much... and he loves you... have you ever said it to each other? And what about..." Elizabeth hesitated, and Janie finished the sentence, much to Elizabeth's surprise, "... the 'other women' out there in ports all around the world? The whores? They are nothing but faceless bits of amusement, darlin'. He's a sailor, at sea for weeks at a time. They bed each other, he pays them, and leaves... no strings attached..."

"Strangely, I can understand that. But have you said, 'I love you' to each other?" Elizabeth repeated, forcing Janie to look at her.

Finally, Janie's face smiled a bit. "No... not really in the true sense. We aren't the marrying kind..."

"... but you have a lifelong commitment to each other, whether you admit it, or not... You've proven that. Maybe you should find a way to tell him..." Elizabeth said with some conviction in her voice, as they were now back within sight of the gypsy camp...

They walked along in silence for a bit longer, then Janie stopped, with a mischievious grin. "Ah, here is a bit of humour to lighten things up on a dreary evening, darlin'... when I said that I gave meself to Jack on that night, of course, he was sweet and loving, but saints above, the boy was _clumsy_... if ye can imagine telling _that _to the great Captain Jack Sparrow, now, he would be so insulted... " chuckling, Janie whispered, "... not only was he_ my _first lover, I suspect that I might have been _his_! He was so.. " Janie rolled her eyes, "... _clumsy_ in that hay loft... Don't tell him that I told ye that! He's gotten _much_ better at it since then!"

Elizabeth was giggling hard, as Janie stopped, and fished around in her skirt pocket, "Here, darlin'... I found it in the stream... make a wish for a baby, dearest... it's a piece of green Connemara marble, and it will bring ye luck!"

Elizabeth gazed at the rough chunk of beautiful green stone in her hand... and she knew that she would keep this tiny bit of this place that she was growing to love so much, always...

_To be continued..._

۞


	9. The Nightmare

_**Author's note: **This was a tough chapter to write... and it is dark... ye be warned, mates. Pirate Cat_

۞

_It was getting dark... and he was out in the forest picking the last of the wild plums... dark clouds were gathering, and there was the sound of thunder in the distance... it would soon be raining, so he knew that he had better hurry. _

_Mama was sick... she could not get out of bed for the last several days, and he had tried his best to keep a fire burning, but his little hands could not break up the chunks of peat, and the last piece that he had put onto the fire only smothered it, and it did not catch fire and keep them warm... the fire merely smoked, then went out, and there was no protection against the November winds. _

_"Mama? I can't get the fire lit, Mama..." he had said, but she only tossed and turned on her cot, her face ashen and her breathing laboured. Her hair was sticking to her face with sweat, and she shook with chills... _

_"Mama?" he could see his own small hands trying to reach out and soothe her, smoothing her black hair back and trying to bathe her face with some cool water. "Mama?" his voice was beginning to quake with tears, but he knew that it would be up to him to try to help her, even as little as he was..._

_He was only six years old, and his only friend, Janie, had not been around for several days... only her fearsome father, Thomas __Ó Madáin__, their landlord, yelling words at him in a language that he could not understand... in past weeks, he had heard this man get into heated arguments with his mother, and he knew that this man was trying to make his mother do things that he shouldn't... he had once pinned her up against a wall in the one room cottage, and she had pulled her dagger on him... she could defend herself, but not against a man as large as this man was, at all times... he had slapped her nearly across the room for resisting his advances, but this time she had the advantage and threatened to put his eye out._

_That was then... this was now... a neighbouring farmer had said that he would go into town and get the physician, but no one had shown up... Mama hadn't talked for three days... and she could not even drink water, now... her eyes were sinking into their sockets, and becoming dark with the fever... the only thing that she had said was "wild plums"... and he thought that is what she might eat... _

_So he ran out into the forest, with the darkness starting to close in on him... he was so scared, and the trees looked like they had long, sharp claws... the wind was blowing the branches all about, and the briars were scratching his thin legs bloody... wild plums... wild plums... wild plums... _

_Lightning flashed, and a terrible, horrible clap of thunder pierced the skies.. lightning split a tree right next to him, and he could smell smoke... smoke... smoke in his eyes... smoke in his nostrils... he can't breathe... he began to run as hard as he could..._

_Then he heard it above the raging wind and the incessant loud thunder... a terrible, horrible shrieking... all around him, from the sky, and clear down into his very marrow... shrieking, wailing, howling... a shriek of death... a shriek of murder... a shriek of terror... he screamed and started to run back to the cottage even harder... his lungs felt like they would burst... as he ran through the dark and stormy forest, his arms beat back the bushes and the grasping, clawing branches of the black trees that were tossing in the wind... shrieking... then he saw it... above the trees and above the tiny cottage that was home, there it was... the terrifying, blowing form of the __bean sí_ ... _a banshee... the ghost woman of death... and she was wailing for Magdalena Sparrow..._

_...He was thrown into the corner of the room...__brutally, painfully... MAMA!!! There were women there... shrouded in black... his mother's dead eyes, staring at the thatched ceiling... voices... he couldn't understand them... men who grabbed him and struck him across his face... as the thunder rattled the very world around them...his eyebrow split open and blood was in his eyes... _

_MAMA!!! _

_A shriek of death splitting the air with the thunder... lightning splitting the air...the wail of death..._

_His heart racing, his lungs filled with smoke... his own screaming as he was thrown over someone's shoulder... his mama, wrapped in rough burlap, and being thrown like trash onto a dead cart... a black cart, drawn by a skeletal horse... lightning... the shrieking of the __bean sí pointing her bony finger at the man who was hauling him away, the man who had thrown him against the corner... the man who had set fire to the cottage..._

_Smoke... choking black smoke... a voice shouting in Gaelic "Dún do bheal!" to shut his mouth... his own small voice, screaming to his captor the only terrible phrase that he knew... to go to hell... "Go hifreann leat!" he shouted it over and over, as he screamed for his mother...smoke... MAMA!!!!_

_And he looked over into the forest as the lightning lit up the sky like daytime... the bean sí was beckoning to someone in the forest to see the hell that was taking place ... __flames from the burning cottage reaching high into the sky... the __bean sí opened her toothless mouth and the air split with a shriek..._

_And as he was dragged away... he saw a horrified face in the forest... tear streaked, and in shock as the smoke enveloped them all... and all he could do was reach for her and scream her name..._

_"__**JANIE**__!!!!"_

۞

"Jack!!! Wake up!!! JACK!"

William and Elizabeth ran headlong down the stairs... it was in the middle of the night, and Jack's bloodcurdling screams woke them from a sound sleep... they had pulled on what clothing that they could grab and flew down through the great room and into Janie's bedroom...

They found Janie shaking the captain with all of her might, ducking a fist and trying to bring him to reality... William grabbed Jack by the arms and shook him until his neck nearly snapped in two... they almost had to slap him, when his eyes flew open and he screamed, "**Go hifreann leat**_!" _again... then "JANIE!!!"

"I'm here, Jack! I'm right here!" Janie finally grabbed him by his hair, ripping off his bandana and gripping him so hard that his head could not move...

As William grabbed the hysterical man from behind, Elizabeth and Janie were finally able to scream him into wakefulness...

He stared at them, his eyes wild... his breath coming in ragged gasps... his heart was racing so hard that they could feel it in his temples... his dark eyes were inky black with fear, and tear filled... and his face was the colour of ashes...

"Jack... it's us... it's us, love..." Elizabeth made him focus his eyes on hers... as the tears began to tumble down his cheeks...

Jack began to tremble... and William's grip from behind turned into a comforting embrace... the captain had no voice, yet, only incoherent gulps of air...

His eyes closed, as Janie ran back from the kitchen with a bowl of water and a towel. Her face was wild with worry, as Elizabeth soothingly smoothed Jack's hair back from his face, and talked in low tones to him...

"It's alright, Jack... it was a nightmare... it's alright..."

Finally finding a rasping, hoarse voice, he was able to choke out, "Wot did I say? Am I mad? Wot did I say?"

"Nothing important, love, you said nothing..." Elizabeth said, as William finally came around and pulled his cousin into his side, his arm around him for support...

Jack's face was streaked with tears, as he opened his eyes and said," Janie... tell me wot I said..."

"It's true, Jack... you were screaming, but it was nothing..."

"How can I scream _nothing_???" he sobbed, unable to stop the tears and unwilling to believe them...

Janie finally could not stand to lie to him, anymore. She pulled a blanket around Jack, and William pulled it around him tightly, rubbing his shoulders as Elizabeth bathed his gray and shaken face... they all took a deep breath, as Janie said, softly,".. ye were screaming my name, Jack...and about the wailing... and another name..." Janie's face flushed, as William and Elizabeth had heard it, too.

Opening his terrified eyes, and staring straight into hers, he finally found his voice again, and said, "Were you there, Janie? Or have I been dreaming this for thirty years? Were you there? Ye were, weren't ye?"

Janie took his face into her hands, and gently kissed away the tears... looking deeply into his horrified dark eyes, and smoothing away the beaded braids from his shoulders, she nodded, "Yes, Jack... I was there...I was there... ye saw me, then... it's true..."

"Did you hear it? The wailing of the _bean sí? _Or am I that mad?"

Janie took a deep breath, again, and said, "Yes... I heard it... I saw it... it was real... the _bean sí _was real..."

Several minutes passed, with Elizabeth continuing to bathe Jack's face with water, and William never leaving his shaking cousin's side... as Janie sat down on his other side, her arm around him, smoothing back his hair, the captain finally said words that the Turners had been waiting so long to hear from him... words that they hoped would help them to help their loved one begin to heal...

"William... Izzy... ye need t' know... _Tá náire orm_..." Jack choked.

William said, softly, "... Jack, don't say that, mate... don't say you're ashamed..."

"William... Izzy..." he started again, hanging his dark head, his hair covering his face, clutching the blanket around him, and leaning heavily into William's side, "...my mother was somehow murdered, and I was sold into three years o' slavery, because we were gypsies... the _bean sí _was wailing for a murdered woman..." the tears started anew, as Jack choked out, "... my mother died, and I damn near did, too, because he thought we were trash... vermin... because of Thomas Ó Madáin... _Janie's father_..."

And they kept holding Jack Sparrow for more than an hour, until exhausted sleep came to him again, Janie wrapping a blanket around him, holding his body against hers, like she was afraid that death would come for him if she let go of him...

And William and Elizabeth retired to their room... heartsick for their friend, their cousin, their captain... but relieved in knowing that he could finally tell them what had been haunting him since he was six years old...

They could finally try to help him put to rest some of the horrors of his past... they just had to figure out how... and they held each other close, as the lightning crackled in the storm outside...

_To be continued..._

۞


	10. A Story in the Mist

۞

William and Elizabeth came down from their room in the morning, enticed by yet another pot of fresh coffee brewing in a pot over the cooking fire. They found Janie in the kitchen, an apron tied around her waist, looking, as always, like she had never been to bed... even though they had seen her in her dressing gown only hours before... as they had left her, desperately rocking the dark one that she loved in her arms. Now, her hair was braided neatly and tied, as always with a black velvet ribbon... she was wiping her flour covered hands upon a small towel. She looked up, and smiled tiredly at the young Turners.

Elizabeth came over to her, and embraced her tightly. "Good morning..." William also came over, tieing his blue bandana over his long curly hair, and said, quietly, "Good morning, Janie... where is Jack?"

Pushing her everpresent auburn curls out of her eyes, Janie sighed and said, "We've been awake since just before dawn... he has not said much... he is out there, sitting on the end of the dock... I think that he's waiting for ye..."

Elizabeth and William both looked out into the mist that was coming from the water of the cove... it was a cloudy morning, with the threat of a soft rain that kept the countryside here so green. The captain was sitting on the end of the dock... just sitting... looking into the mist at the quietly moored Black Pearl, as she rested peacefully in the soft waters of the cove... the elusive and beautiful Irish mists were caressing the lines of the ship like the hands of a gentle lover, as the waters lapped quietly at her hull. A lone seagull could be heard in the distance...

"I'll be making fresh rolls for breakfast..." Janie said... "... and please try to get our captain in out of the dampness... he really is prone to pneumonia..." she fussed, lovingly.

Nodding that they would, the young couple quietly walked through the kitchen doorway and down to the little wooden dock...

Jack didn't look up as William and Elizabeth sat down with him, each of them upon either side of him. Elizabeth slipped an arm through the captain's, and said, softly, "It's awfully wet and chilly out here, Jack..."

"I have me coat on..."

William leaned forward to look into Jack's somber face, "... where is your hat, mate?"

"I dunno... in th' great room by th' couch, I think..."

Silence fell between them, as the young couple respectfully waited for Jack to say more... they were a bit surprised when he simply began to speak his mind, his hands tying and untying knots in a small length of rope.

"... Ye know about it, now..."

The Turners merely nodded.

Jack cleared his throat, and then said, "... it took a while t' get used to... I had no choice... I was aboard a ship that was capturing other slaves off o' Africa... there was no place t' go if one tried t' escape but right into th' Atlantic, an' I couldn't swim that well... th' ship would round up black natives and were plannin' t' sell them in th' slave markets in England... I was a shipboard slave... permanently imprisoned on th' Queen of th' Dark... that was the ship's real name.. appropriate, methinks..."

William and Elizabeth both thought of the Athena... a slave ship that they had looted when they were coming around the coast of the Dark Continent on their way back from the China Sea... they had sent it to the depths after setting her crew off on an island and taking her supplies.

"... it took a while t' get used t' th' shackles... but I did me best t' do wot I was told, since no one aboard spoke Gaelic... I must say that some good came of it... " Jack shrugged, slowly untying another knot, his eyes focused on that task, "...I learned English from th' sailors who liked me...I learned some French from another slave before he died o' dysentery... I had dysentery, too, but I didn't die... I was just sick... It was awful, sittin' in yer own waste 'til yer crusty wif it... tha's why I'm kind of ... peculiar... about bein' cleaner than most pirates..." Jack's lower lip trembled slightly. Elizabeth involuntarily felt herself gag a bit, as William winced.

"It lasted for almost three years... I spent a lot o' time above deck, chained so that I could move about... I mostly swabbed th' deckboards so's they wouldn't warp in th' sun... I was darker, so I didn't sunburn as badly as some of 'em... I was beaten rather regularly, but ye even get used t' that after a while..."

Jack swallowed hard, and continued, "... I loved th' sea, even then... even shackled, it was freedom like I'd never seen... but I missed my Janie..." his eyes misted over, still watching his hands tie and untie knots, "... I thought maybe she'd forget me, but I swore if I ever got away, I'd find 'er... I tried t' escape once, but I got caught... th' captain broke both o' me wrists for me efforts..." he flexed his wrists a bit, his fingers twiddling the piece of rope.

Finally looking at his companions with round eyes, he said, almost sounding like himself, "Don't tell Janie, savvy? She doesn't know that, an' she'd kill me for gettin' both wrists broken..." Elizabeth and William smiled slightly at his trepidation... his mustache twitched a bit... just like "their" Jack...

"... anyway, whilst I was sittin' in the hold, wif both wrists so swollen up that I couldn't move me hands, I decided right then an' there that I was goin' t' be somebody... I was goin' t' survive, escape, an' I was goin' t' be somebody if I had t' make up me own legend for meself... I would be bloody _free and famous_! "

Elizabeth moved closer and gripped Jack's arm more comfortingly, as William ever so casually draped an arm about Jack's shoulder... angry tears began to well up in the captain's dark eyes, and his face began to darken, as he finally said, with an edge to his voice, "... I'm ashamed... I'm ashamed tha' I was no one... I'm ashamed tha' I let Thomas Ó Madáin convince me that I was no one... lower than dirt... an' that no one came t' find me but me father, an' that was after two years, eleven months an' seventeen days had passed..."

"Jack," William said, "... you were a victim... you were a helpless child... you were sold for Thomas Ó Madáin's greed..."

"I was _no one_," Jack spat the words out, "... I was a pathetic little wretch... that's why I feel shame, an' now ye both know it... I was _no one_... an' I swore on my dead mother's grave, wherever it was, that I was going to _be_ somebody great!"

Silence fell for only a moment, then William said, "... you _are_ somebody great..."

And with that, he reached behind his back, and pulled out Jack's worn leather tricorn hat... and he and Elizabeth placed it upon Jack's head... crookedly...

As Jack's surprised eyes turned upward to look at the peak of his hat, hands waving the air slightly, dropping the length of rope into the water with a small splash, Elizabeth smiled affectionately and said, "... you are somebody... you are an ex-slave... you are the greatest gypsy and the greatest pirate who ever lived... you are our cousin and best friend... you are Janie's best friend and love... you are _Captain Jack Sparrow_... and we love you, and will never leave you behind, again..."

Hanging his head for a moment, and taking in a deep breath of the heavy mist, Jack said, quietly... "Never? Even when I am overtaken by bouts of instability? Ye'll never leave me behind in an asylum, or on me own? Wot if..." Sadness tinged his voice...

"Never." Elizabeth promised. William frowned that Jack would ever worry about anything such as that... he had not realized how Jack had worried... an asylum...

William, affectionately patting Jack's narrow shoulder, tried to lighten things by adding, "... think of it, cousin... we rescued you from the Locker... we would have rescued you from your slavemaster, but we weren't born yet...you were born too soon." the handsome young pirate shook his head, as he waited for the captain's reaction.

Jack's eyes widened as he digested this absurd logic... it was as absurd as if he had said it... then he stared at William, who grinned... Elizabeth squeezed the captain's arm, and also smiled brightly, as Jack finally began to laugh his curious silent laugh, his face finally relaxing, and his shoulders starting to shake with giggles. William began to chuckle, as Janie's voice came through the mist... "Fresh rolls out of the oven, you three! Fresh coffee with cream from the spring house! Come and get it or I'll throw it out to Clancy, the neighbour's cat!"

Jack blinked back the tears and sloppily wiped his nose on the back of his sleeve, then finally used a handkerchief that Elizabeth offered. His cheeks reddening a bit, he murmered, "Thank ye kindly, Izzy..." then they all got to their feet. Swaying slightly, Jack looked at his young cousins for a long moment, and he said, "Ye're not ashamed of me? Ye'll never leave me behind?"

"Never!" William smiled, "... unless you fall behind... Pirate's Code..."

"No fallin' behind here, mate...not when Janie's cooking is involved," Jack replied, a small sparkle finally coming back to him, "... mmm... fresh rolls... as much as I like Clancy, they're mine..."

With the captain leading the way, they went back up to the warm, welcoming light of the Inn... the innkeeper had been waiting, and smiling, from the doorway...

۞

The day was proving to be a rainy one, and the four friends thought it best to stay in upon this day... Jack built a crackling fire in the fireplace, and they all gathered around it on the friendly old couch, under the wool blankets like they had the first night that they had spent together... Jack was still very quiet, for him, but he seemed to be trying to push the nightmare of the night before into the back of his mind ...

"Oh, I forgot to tell all of ye! We will be having fresh fish for our evening meal!" Janie exclaimed, as the warming fire made a pleasant glow upon all of their faces, "Padraig and his two sons, Paddy and Alexander, came by while ye were talking on the dock, and brought a fine string o' fish! I will fry them up with some cornmeal cakes... I have some wild onion to add to them..."

Elizabeth expressed her disappointment in missing the Kerrigans, as she said, "I would love to visit the gypsy camp again, if they are still here for a few days! I would love to talk to Molly, again, and meet more of their extended family." Her voice grew wistful as she thought of family members that she was swiftly adopting as her own...

"Well, darlin', they are staying on land that belongs to the Inn... I told Padraig yesterday that they are welcome to winter here if they'd like." Janie said, sipping a cup of her special whiskey laced tea, as Jack gazed at her and gave her an affectionate squeeze, "... Mama would be proud of ye for that, Janie... an' old Thomas Ó Madáin is probably doin' flipovers in 'is grave... bloody well-deserved flipovers..."

"I hope he is doing flipovers in the fires of _hell_," Janie frowned, with a hard edge to her voice and her blue eyes... taking another sip of her tea, and hearing a hard rain begin to fall outside on the waters of the cove, she said, lightly, "... It's a good day to tell some stories by the fire... and I have some stories to tell... some truths to tell... some that even you don't know, Jack..."

All of the eyes in the room turned to Janie O'Madden, as she got up to get another pot of tea from the kitchen... as they watched her long auburn braid swing down her back, she looked over her shoulder and said, "Everyone get cozy by the fire, because you are about to hear the history of Jack Sparrow, Mary Jane O'Madden, and how The Ó Madáin Inn came to be ... courtesy of Captain Edward Jonathan Teague and Magdalena Sparrow...you're family, William, and you and your Izzy deserve to know these things... I'll be back directly... keep me cushion warm for me, Jack..."

Jack's eyes grew wide, and he and the Turners stared at each other...and Jack wondered what Janie was going to say...

_To be continued..._


	11. An 8 Year Old's Vow

۞

As Janie disappeared into the kitchen, Jack also got up from the couch, and wandered into Janie's bedroom for a moment... William and Elizabeth snuggled into each other as the fire crackled and the rain poured down outside of the stone wall of the Inn... they were both thinking of the pair that had just left the room...

It had been rather amazing to William and Elizabeth, in observing the distraught captain since the dreadful nightmare of only a few hours before, and in uncustomarily baring his very soul to them upon the dock, he had almost seemed like a very heavy burden had been finally lifted from his shoulders. The nightmares had been growing worse in recent weeks, and even though he tried to hide that which was keeping him awake at night, finally telling his cousin of his shame and having Janie bear witness to his horrid nightmares seemed to make him seem relieved, in a way.

In walking up from the dock, Jack's steps had been slow and tired, at first... but about halfway up to the front door of the inn, his head raised up, as did his hands, in their customary flighty fashion, and his step lightened. By the time that they reached the front door, the Turners were amazed at the difference... it was as if Captain Jack Sparrow had been reborn.

At breakfast, with the fresh hot rolls steaming in a basket in front of them, sprinkled with cinnamon and dripping in butter, Jack was not very talkative, but his tired, red eyes were beginning to sparkle a bit as he watched and listened to Janie, Elizabeth and William joke lightly, laughing... trying to cheer him. Elizabeth was trying to teach Janie the song that she had taught Jack on Rumrunner's Island, and that brought a broad smile to both his and William's faces, as Jack finally growled, "... and really BAD eggs..."

As he licked his fingers of the melted fresh butter with relish, his delicate, slender hands raised as if to say something all by themselves, he found himself looking at his Janie with troubled eyes... eyes that would suggest a sad, lost puppy. When they had gotten up for the morning, they had really not addressed the nightmare that he had no doubt had frightened the wits of her... they had both made a point to avoid talking about it.

Janie turned to pour more hot coffee into each waiting mug, and she stopped, stock still, when she looked at the captain, who still had a buttery finger stuck in his mouth, absentmindedly, as he watched her. Elizabeth stopped singing and William leaned forward a bit...

It was then that Janie silently came over to her oldest friend's chair, and she wrapped her arms around him from behind. Putting her rosy cheek next to his dark one, she merely closed her eyes and remained there... he closed his eyes, also, his hands still in midair, dripping with butter. She put her own freckled hand on his cheek, turned his face toward her, and kissed him tenderly. Right in front of the Turners...

And as she went about filling the coffee mugs, singing "Yo ho, yo ho..." the captain smiled at her warmly, golden teeth shining, still not saying a word, but looking very much relieved, as he wiped the sugar and cinnamon handprint from his face with the back of his delicate hand...

۞

Janie reemerged from the kitchen with a fresh tray of rolls, a hot pot of tea, the small earthenware jug of whiskey and a small bottle of rum for Jack. Looking around the warm great room, she set the tray down on the trunk and put her hands upon her hips, frowning.

"Alright, Jack, where did ye take your sorry arse? JACK!"

"No worries... " was the reply, as Jack swayed back into the great room, settling back onto the leather cushions, flipping his long braids over his shoulders, and nonchalantly propping his feet onto the trunk with a loud "thud"... the teapot rattled.

Winking at his toasty warm companions, William and Elizabeth could not help but feel that Jack was already feeling more like his old self, and much less burdened... his puffy eyes were now freshly lined with kohl... eyes that had taken on a soft, childlike quality since the kohl had tearfully streaked down his face in the night. He once again looked like Jack Sparrow... with those intense, dark, sparkling pirate eyes... fresh kohl did wonders.

Janie shook her head at him, as he grinned at her, "I'm ready for a story." He patted the cushion next to him... "I'm keepin' it warm for ye, love..."

"I'm pouring tea for everyone, Jack..."

"Blah...I don't want any tea... I want to hear stories..."

"I know..." and Janie slowly poured the tea for herself and Elizabeth... Jack and William nodded, knowingly, to each other, and decided to keep themselves well warmed up with mugs of rum. Finally sitting down, nestled against the captain, Janie took a deep breath and murmered, "... I shall tell stories... and they will not be pretty fairy tales..."

Jack's smile faded only slightly, as thunder rolled outside... he knew most of what was coming, and he braced himself with a large swallow of the spicy, warm rum. He was finally ready to hear these stories in their entirety... and it was time that his cousin and his wife knew... really knew...

_After being discovered for three years of sneaking away to spend time with the ones that her father thought of as beneath them, Mary Jane had been sentenced to spend a week in her opulant bedroom, with only her expensive dolls as company. Like the beautiful and wild Maggie Sparrow, Mary Jane also felt her own rebelliousness taking root deep in her own soul, as if she was thinking of herself as being adopted, somewhat, by the gypsy woman and her highspirited son... a son who dearly and very plainly loved Mary Jane, or "Janie", as his only friend. Five days into her exile, deciding that she'd had enough, eight year old Mary Jane tied her long auburn curls back into her proudest possession - the cherished red bandana that had been given to her by Maggie - opened the window of her room, and stealthily climbed down the rose arbour (minding the thorns) and scampered off to a few more hours of blessed, wild freedom... _

_As she ran closer through the woods toward the cottage that had become more of a home to her than her father's mansion, an unearthly sound met her ears... it was upon the wind in a storm that was gathering... there was a strange sound upon her ears... and eerie sound, like wailing... a song of mourning... a song of foreboding... her small heart beating wildly, she ran down the hill and reached the very edge of the clearing... the weirdness in the air became almost smothering, the wailing sound louder... _

_There was no smoke coming from the chimney... how long had it been since she had been here... a week, perhaps? With the fever epidemic sweeping County Galway, it had not occured to her that it might reach this far out, but Maggie was a seamstress, and had contact with others in the village... Mary Jane's heart pounded as if it would burst, and she finally knew what the sound was... wild with fear but drawn onward by the wailing, piercing sound... _

_It was the song of the beann sí_ _... the Banshee... and Mary Jane was gripped with terror that the spirit of the dead was singing a song of mourning for one of her beloved ones..._

"... you heard it... you weren't lying t' me..." Jack's soft voice said, as his hand raised his mug of rum to his lips, his face turned toward the roaring fire.

"... I didn't lie, Jack... I heard the wailing of the banshee... I saw it with my own eyes..." They had never discussed this, ever... William, especially, perused the banshee... his brown eyes were drawn to the rain upon the windowpanes, as the lightning flashed outside.

The captain merely nodded at Janie's words, staring into the fire, as the young Turners pulled the blanket around themselves a bit tighter.

Janie sipped her tea, and said, "I must have passed out for a few minutes, as I woke up and I was all alone...no one had seen me witnessing the terrible scene that had played out before me... my father had left with Jack, and the cottage had burned to the ground... I just laid there in the rain for a long time, and any other time I would have been running from the thunder and lightning like I thought the devil, himself was after me... I just laid there in the forest... for a time, I just wanted to lay there and die... the ones that I loved the most had just been taken from me... no, _stolen_ from me... one of them forever... the one that had been like an older sister or a mother to me... the one that taught me to sew, and cook..."

Elizabeth spoke, "... what did you do next, Janie?"

Janie looked at the teacup in her hands, and pursed her lips. "I had watched the one that I loved the most be dragged away to parts unknown... but at least he was alive. I was only eight years old, but as I trudged back up to my father's mansion, covered in mud and freezing to the bone in the rain, I tearfully made a vow to myself..."

Raising her eyes up to meet the sympathetic eyes of William and Elizabeth, and feeling Jack's fingers entertwine with hers under the wool blanket, Janie's voice took on an edge as sharp as a razor, "... I promised myself that I would find out _everything_ that my father stood for... I hated him, even then, and I had no idea just how much I would grow to despise him... I knew that I would not rest until I could find out just why my father went to such lengths to get rid of Maggie and Jack... '

'...I knew that it could not be just because they were gypsies, as they had lived there, paying rent, for over three years... deep down inside, I knew that it was partially because he was afraid that Jack and I would be together someday, but there had to be _more_ to it than that, and knowing my father, it had to involve money...I made a vow to myself, even as an eight year old child, that I would seek out revenge... and that I would try to find a way to save my beautiful gypsy boy, no matter how long it took... I swore that we would be together, again... I knew that the banshee wanted me to see all of this horror for a _reason_..."

And Jack's chocolate coloured eyes never left the dancing flames in the fireplace...

_To be continued..._


	12. Murdered by Neglect

۞

The weather grew more dreary outside as the rain continued... droplets were managing to find their way down the chimney, as they popped and sizzled on the fire, making a few tiny sparks fly onto the stone hearth. All eyes and ears were on Janie, even Jack's, now.

Janie was the one staring into the fireplace for a moment or two, her eyebrows now fixed in a deep frown, her hand now openly on top of the blanket and comfortably holding Jack's... her thumb was turning one of his heavy rings back and forth on his finger, an action that he seemed to find quite pleasant... if he had been Clancy, the neighbour's cat, he would have been purring... Playfully, he twiddled his thumb at hers to get her attention.

"Oh! I'm sorry..." she blinked for a moment, as Jack's round eyes looked at her, owlishly... "Get t' the good parts, love... let's just skip over... well... you know..."

Janie smiled at the Turners, who were waiting in respectful silence... Elizabeth had even let her tea get cold...

۞

_Mary Jane had very few reasons to go outside to play these days... she would morosely mope around the estate, as the cook would certainly not let her into the kitchen to try to make bread like Maggie had taught her, and she had very little inspiration to climb trees or intentionally dirty up one of her fine frocks. She would find herself, more times than not, just sitting upon the steps in back of the grand home, staring out across the property to where the little cottage had once stood. Every week, she would wander down to the wooden fence... a wooden fence whose board had now been nailed back into place... and she would carefully climb over and walk to the burned out remains of the place that she felt that she had belonged so... she felt so alone... so very alone..._

_But she used more than just baking skills that has been taught to her... true to her vow to herself, Mary Jane also had ways of listening when no one knew she was around... she had learned from the Sparrows how to blend into shadows... how to listen through keyholes... how to perform slightly illicit acts of larceny by slipping keys into one's sleeves or a fold of one's skirt, if it were to profit one with information that would further one's goals..._

_It was by using such acts of subterfuge that Mary Jane was able to eavesdrop upon her father's conversations with his financial advisor one night... and it was then that she heard news that stunned her..._

_"Thomas, the market for land is bottoming out... I told you that you should have sold off your holdings long ago, and now you are going to lose most of your fortune!"_

_"That is not what I want to hear, Albert! I want to hear how I can turn enough profit so as not to lose my very roof from over my head!"_

_"You're not in danger of losing the house, yet, Thomas, but you are going to sell these properties off at a loss, man! You are going to have to borrow money to hold on to what you want to keep. The only piece of land that you made money on was the property that you sold after you took care of the gypsies..."_

_"'... took care of..." Mary Jane's hand went to her mouth as she hid behind the heavy door to the darkened, cold hallway outside of her father's study._

_"... that gypsy whore! I would have done away with her and her brat sooner if I had my way. She finally had the grace to die of the fever, but not after I paid off the physician to not tend to her... some riffraff farmer tried to get him to come out to treat her, but I already knew that she was taken ill and knew it would be a good way to get her out of the way... just let her die..."_

_There was silence for a moment, "... and her son?"_

_"... would have been worth a lot more if he had been a girl... girls go for more money on the slave market... they can be bred to make more slaves... boys are not worth spit..."_

_Mary Jane felt sick to the very pit her stomach... Jack had been sold into slavery... Maggie had been murdered by paying off the physician... Maggie had died of neglect, and Jack was somewhere in chains, or maybe dead by now... Mary Jane felt her throat beginning to constrict, like she would vomit._

_Her father's rant continued, "... I didn't even know if the brat was a boy or a girl for a long time... he was such a skinny little thing with all of that curly black hair, that I thought he was a girl, at first... too bad for me, I would have made more money at the slave market when I turned him over..."_

_There was another uncomfortable silence for a moment, when her father's advisor finally spoke again, his voice soft with anger, "Thomas... you commited murder...you killed that woman like as if you strangled her, yourself... "_

_"Goddammit, they were gypsies! That piece of land was worth a lot of money to me, more than the rent that they were paying! I had no grounds to evict them, as if being vermin weren't enough reason! There is a fine home and a tavern on the property now..."_

_Murder... her father had commited murder...if Jack was dead, then it was murder, twice, Mary Jane thought, bitterly..._

_"... we must sell off as much land as we can, as quickly as we can, Thomas..." the advisor finally said, wishing to conclude this conversation as quickly as he could, "... before the land prices drop any more, and you go broke..."_

_Thomas Ó Madáin_ _ answered in a way that made Mary Jane's blood run cold, "... Whist, man, if I'd had my way, I wouldn't have a brat of my own to support... and if I could have made that Sparrow woman see things my way, I would have my hands on pirate gold..."_

_"... the boy's father..."_

_"... aye, the bastard's pirate sire. The woman paid her debts in pirate gold... "_

_"Thomas, for God's sake, leave well enough alone... and your daughter, Mary Jane is not a brat. She is a beautiful, high spirited little girl..."_

_Mary Jane could hear no more... she quietly slipped up to her cold room and shivered... is that why it was so cold in the house? Was it because her father was not spending money on fuel to keep them warm... or did she feel so cold because of what she had just heard?_

_۞_

_Over two years had passed... Mary Jane was now ten years old... she knew that she trespassed every time that she climbed the fence to visit what she considered a gravesite, although no one was buried there. She would walk through the trees, and down the small hill into what had once been the clearing... it was now overgrown with weeds, and she no longer even heard Jack's childish laughter upon the wind, like she used to... he was the wind... the memories were still vivid, but it seemed like her heart was growing as cold as the house that she existed in... it was true, her father was now borrowing money from the money lender, Sean O'Hennessey, to keep up appearances..._

_She was sitting next to the lonely stone chimney, the only remnant of the cottage... the open, blackened fireplace looked like the toothless mouth of the Banshee... Mary Jane shuddered and got up to leave, when she heard something... scampering into the underbrush, she looked around through the scrubby trees... and much to her surprise, she saw a man... no one that she had ever seen before..._

_He was stocky of build, with a black mustache, and sallow, creased face. His hair was jet black, and worn in trinketed, long braids. He was walking slowly up to where the burned out cottage had been, a large brimmed hat on his head... a hat with long feathers adorning it. He had a pistol in his belt, and a sword strapped over his chest with a wide leather baldric. He was wearing heavy sea boots, folded down at the top..._

_His face was mournful and confused... looking around like as if he could not absorb what had happened here..._

_His most telling feature, though, were his eyes... his inky black eyes, that burned like hot coals._

_In one be-ringed hand was a bag that looked like it might contain coins, but Mary Jane could not be sure... and in his other hand was what looked like a toy... a small, carved wooden ship... a toy for a little boy..._

_She gasped a little when she saw it... and the burning black eyes turned quickly to look straight at her..._

_And she knew right then and there, that she was looking straight into the eyes of a pirate... and she quickly turned to run..._

_To be continued..._

۞


	13. Striking an Accord

۞

_Mary Jane had hardly taken off running for her life when the wide strides of the stranger brought him up directly behind her. He quickly reached out his arms and scooped her up off of her feet, and she screamed, accordingly... kicking wildly, struggling against the strong arms that were holding her up off of the ground, Mary Jane howled with all of her might, more angry, now, than frightened. She was upon the receiving end of quite a surprise when the deep, gravelly voice of this frightening man said, quite matter-of-factly, "Struggle all that ye might, missy, I am not putting ye down until ye stop kicking..." He spoke Gaelic!_

_She finally ran out of strength... she had kicked so hard that her slippers had flown off of her feet, and her already unruly auburn hair was now hanging in her face in a most unladylike fashion... not that she cared much about being a little lady, especially since she felt that things such as that did not matter one whit in the world that she was so angry with. _

_She gasped for breath, dangling from the pirate's arms... she was being held firmly with her back against his chest, and it was then that she finally decided to stop trying to escape... it did not mean that she had to talk to this man._

_Finally putting the child down, but not letting go of her, the stranger turned her around to look at her, and there was a surprising hint of kindness in his eyes. His face was not handsome, but there was a worldliness about him that Mary Jane found suddenly fascinating... for a pirate, he rather had the look of a gypsy about him. He spoke, his words brief, but soft..."What are you doing here?"_

_Mary Jane did not say a word... her lower lip protruded in a petulant way, and she glowered up at the pirate._

_He sighed, looking about at the scene before him, and very directly asked, "What happened here? Where is the woman and the little boy who used to live here?"_

_Mary Jane hesitated... and then spoke, herself, ".. who are you?"_

_The pirate looked down at her, and answered, "... well, I asked you first, and the first question that I asked you, very politely, was' what are you doing here"?" _

_Mary Jane also looked around, and finally found herself looking at the empty place where a cottage used to stand through a blur of tears... very quietly, she answered, "I come here to grieve for my friends..."_

_The pirate's eyes widened with shock... "What?"_

_Mary Jane looked at her toes, which were wearing only her stockings, since her shoes were in the underbrush, somewhere. She swallowed hard, and said, "... the woman who lived here has been dead for over two years... and the little boy...," her lower lip now began to tremble, and she began to dig a toe into the long grass... afraid that the pirate might not like weeping little girls, Mary Jane kept her head down, and began to sniffle._

_The pirate had let go of her, and he gently knelt down in front of this sad child... searching the face of this tearful little Irish colleen, he put a finger under her chin and made her look up. His own eyes were joining her in sorrow... "... Maggie is dead?" Mary Jane nodded._

_The pirate looked as if his heart had just had a crack hammered into it ... "... and my son... Jackie?"_

_Mary Jane stared at him hard... this man was the man that Maggie had spoken of... Jack's father, who was at sea, never seen, but always present when Jack would speak of him wishfully, and always present in the coins of gold from all over the known world when Maggie would pay for food or rent... Mary Jane got more courageous, and asked, "Are you Captain Teague?"_

_The pirate nodded, "Captain Edward Jonathan Teague... "_

_Mary Jane gazed into his burning black eyes, and thought of her father. The murderer. The man who had caused Maggie Sparrow's death and who had sold a helpless little boy into a world of depravity and degradation. She suddenly felt a kinship to this fearsome man who was just realizing that the woman that had borne his son was long dead... his eyes were burning with something that Mary Jane could not understand, but felt close to..._

_Mustering up her courage, Mary Jane said, "My name is Ma..." she hesitated, and said, with finality, "... my name is 'Janie'... Maggie died, and Jack was... Jack was..." New tears began to form, as she struggled with what had been pent up inside of her little heart for all of these months. _

_As Captain Teague patiently waited, little Janie started to cry... "Jack was sold into slavery... I don't know if he is still alive or not... he was my only friend... ", and with that, she dissolved into tears, her entire body shaking with lonely, wracking sobs._

_Teague stared at her in utter shock... finally pulling this grieving child into his arms, he carried her over to a large stone and held her as she cried... slavery... his Maggie was dead and his boy was sold into the most despicable institution known to man... "Why, child?"_

_Janie buried her face in this man's long braids, and struggled to speak,"...b-b-because they were g-g-gypsies...J-j-jack was my best friend, and I miss him so m-m-much..." she trembled, still fighting the tears... _

_Teague could not believe his ears. His family was gone. Just as he was finally going to try to reconcile with Maggie, after sending her money through what he thought was a trusted messenger every year since Jack was a baby_, _he finds out that they were gone... for over two years. He felt as though the very world had stopped turning_.

_Staring at the little toy ship that he had laid upon the ground, holding a crying child, not his own, who was heartbroken over both of their loss, Teague felt as though he had been kicked in the stomach... he should have had the courage to try to win Maggie back... but it was too late for that..._

_۞_

_They sat in this way for quite some time... Janie finally had quieted her tears, hiccuping softly into Captain Teague's velvet vest. He was still a frightening man, but had held her so gently as she finally vented the anger and fear and loneliness that she had felt since that horrible November night. He was comforting, this man... he was rocking her in his arms, as she had craved from her own father... his person had the aromas of salt air, tanned leather, and an exotic spice in his hair that she could not identify... breathing deeply of his braids, she savored the fragrance... looking up at Teague, he said, simply, "Patchouli oil."_

_Finally, she opened up to him... he was entitled to know... he needed to know, as perhaps he would be the way that Janie could make true her vow to find her friend, somehow... and once she told Teague the story in its entirety, good and bad, he was silent for a very long time, his face an unreadable mask, but his eyes began to glow in a very odd way... like someone had taken a flint and had sparked a flame, deep down inside._

_Turning Janie to look at him, he said, "... Janie, you have been a very brave, brave little girl, and I can see why Maggie and Jack would have thought so much of you... you have a bit of gypsy in you, I can tell." Janie smiled up at Captain Teague, who continued,"You will need to be brave for a long time, as I am going to give you a very big responsibility...do you think that you can do it?"_

_Janie's blue eyes grew wide, and nodded, hesitantly..._

_Teague's eyes began to burn brightly, and he said, "... I suspect that the gold that I have been sending here for the last two years might be in your father's possession. We can't worry about that now, but I am going to ask you to do something very important, lassie..."_

_He took the heavy bag that he had carried in his hand when she first saw him, and opened it. Janie's eyes nearly popped out of her head, as she had never seen so much gold in her young life. Teague tied the bag closed, and placed it in her hands. It was extremely heavy._

_"I am going to entrust this to you, Janie. I want you to find a hiding place that no one else would ever know of, and I want you to put this bag of gold there for safekeeping. Do you think that you can do that? Do not do anything with it, and keep hiding it until I tell you otherwise, savvy?' _

_'I am a pirate, and you told me that Maggie taught you many gypsy ways... I wish to strike an accord with you... that's an agreement, little lassie... that you will safekeep this gold ... for my little son, and your best friend... I am going to the slave market in An Clochán_ _tonight, and I am going to break into the office and find the logbooks for the slave ships that sailed in November of two years ago... " Teague's face was beginning to fill with more fury with every word that he uttered, and Janie's sad heart began to fill with pride..._

_As they solemnly shook hands, Captain Teague embraced Janie to him... "... if my son is still alive, I swear that I will find him... you say that your father, Maggie's landlord, is responsible for this... I don't have time to attend to him right now, as there has been too much time wasted ... his kind are their own undoing... I want you to keep a weather eye out, as I will keep in touch with you... you are in this as deep as my son and I are, lassie... I will leave right away... you have given me the knowledge that I need to start hunting for my Jackie..._

_Janie looked up at this fearsome man... a man who was frightening, and yet who loved his young son with all of his heart... and she said, in the very blunt way that was becoming her custom, "... he is my Jackie, too..." and her blue eyes glowed with a fire of love for her best friend, and a new passion for revenge against the man that she was ashamed to call her father... she would no longer consider herself Mary Jane Ó Madáin_ _, but would now call herself Janie O'Madden.. it would distance herself from her father in her own mind and heart._

_She did not tell Captain Teague, but she knew where to hit her father where it hurt the most, and she made up her mind that not only was she going to hide this gold that Teague had entrusted her with, but if Teague was right, she was going to find out if her father had, indeed, taken pirate gold that was not his... pirate gold that was meant for Maggie and Jack..._

_... pirate gold that was now blood money... _

_To be continued..._


	14. The Queen of the Dark

_**Author's note: **This chapter is also dark... things are going to start happening, mates, I promise. Pirate Cat_

۞

All eyes were upon Jack as the story had progressed ... Janie kept squeezing his hand as she spoke of her accord with Captain Teague, and all were silent when Janie paused for a sip of hot tea. The peat logs in the fireplace crackled and popped, breaking the quietness.

"... Jack... your father loves you, and you know it," William spoke up, as Jack's gaze had dropped to both of his hands, now holding Janie's as if he thought that she would take her hand away from him. Jack wanted to say something, but only opened his mouth and closed it again. His head tilted back and he looked at his young cousin, as William gently continued.

'... he saluted you as we were victorious in the Battle of the Maelstrom. And when my father contacted him in Madagascar to seek his aid in helping you and I parlay with Hector Barbossa to trade the Calypso's Hand for the Black Pearl, Captain Teague never hesitated once. He came to your side right away, bringing the Pirata Codex with him! He is proud of you, mate... he cares about you...

"I know that he does," Jack nodded, his slender fingers gently massaging the back of Janie's hand absently. "... I know that he does... he's just... I'm just..." he stammered.

"Stubborn." Janie said firmly. "... ye may look just like Maggie, ye may be talkative just like Maggie, and ye may be daft just like Maggie, but you inherited Teague's stubbornness."

"Did not!"

"Did, too."

"Did not!"

"Did, too."

"Whose side are ye on, Janie?" Jack turned to look at her.

"Teague's." was the answer, with narrowed blue eyes glaring at him.

The captain looked at the snickering Turners, and his lower lip began to pout. "Oh."

Janie patted his hands, then said, softly, "I did not hear from Captain Teague for three months... and I nearly gave up ever seeing my Jackie alive again..."

Jack's eyes returned to staring into the crackling fire in the fireplace, as William and Elizabeth listened raptly... they soon noticed that Jack had squeezed his eyes shut... Janie kept patting his hand, gently, as the story continued...

۞

_... Captain Teague had stealthily been following a ship called the Queen of the Dark, a privateer vessel that had taken on shipboard slaves during the November that had changed young Janie's life. He had not only broken into the slave auction office with his first mate in the darkness of night, and had looked at the records, they had stolen the entire ledger with the names of those unfortunates that had been sold, and the ships that they had been taken to at the harbour. The captain's first mate, Joshamee Gibbs, Senior, watched his captain's face with apprehension when he saw one entry._

_"Name: Jack_

_Gender: Male_

_Age upon date of sale: Approximately 6 years_

_Race: Gypsy/coloured. Black curly hair, brown eyes._

_Notes: bastard; no legal guardian. Very slight of build, small for age. Suited only for shipboard labour. Does not speak English, only Irish Gaelic._

_Final sale price: Three pounds, tenpence._

_Purchased by: Jonas Culpepper, captain of privateer galleon 'Queen of the Dark'."_

_Teague angrily slammed the ledger closed, and with a nod of his head to his first mate, they immediately left in the embrace of the darkness... toward the taverns in the seamier side of town... it was here that they would begin to ask a long trail of questions... paying for information if it was necessary... using force, if need be._

_۞_

_The Queen of the Dark was moored off of the coast of Morocco... and the crew was lined up at gunpoint upon the main deck. The stench aboard the Queen was almost unbearable... they were getting ready to clean the hold of its cargo, and take on new cargo upon the west coast of Africa, south of their location. They'd had a fairly successful run to deliver a fresh shipment of African captives to Spain, but there had been some that had died of dysentery that were still below... their bodies had not been pitched overboard yet, and the smell of death was nearly overwhelming in the heat._

_The only slaves that were present were those that were chained to iron rings that were fastened to the deckboards... they were a motley crew, filthy and thin, in various states of health... they looked up in hope for a moment, but in seeing that the other ship was a pirate vessel, the hope faded and they simply watched with hollow eyes._

_The captain of the vessel was being held in his cabin with the barrel of a pistol pushed to his head by the dark, menacing pirate that was the captain of the ship that had seemingly had materialized out of nowhere, her cannons pointing straight at her, broadside. The pirate crew outnumbered the crew of the privateer ship, and it was only after a short trade of gunfire that the pirate crew was able to board, swords and guns flashing._

_Captain Culpepper was able to throw a wig over his bald pate and cram a hat over that, when the captain of the Star of Madagascar lumbered across the gangplank... the very picture of the devil himself, his black eyes flashing and his pistol drawn. His long braids swung with his swaying walk, and his face was a picture of ice cold fury._

_His only words to the indignant slavemaster were, "... where is Jack?"_

_"I have no idea who you are talking about!" was the belligerant reply, as the cruel Culpepper adjusted the wig and hat upon his head. "There is no one named 'Jack' on this ship. There was a whelp slave on board once, but he died and I threw his bloody body to the sharks."_

_Teague leaned into the man's face so as to almost bend him completely backwards, and said, in a low, hard growl, "... where is JACK?"_

_His eyes popping from his head, the captain could only now stare in stupified fear, his hand holding his hat onto his head so hard that it scrunched his wig down over his eyebrows. His mouth worked but no words escaped, as Teague put his pistol between Culpepper's eyes and cocked it._

_Culpepper gulped hard, and then finally croaked, "In the hold... he has dysentery... he's dying..."_

_۞_

_They almost gagged as they descended into the hold, Culpepper with the keys to the shackles jangling in his shaking hands, being roughly shoved down the steps by Teague and his first mate. The darkness was only pierced by the light from the opening... and it was enough to see the grisly swelling bodies of those who had succumbed to the heat and dysentery that had been brought aboard by a sailor on shore leave... there were only 10 bodies chained together, waiting for a mass burial at sea, but they had rotted quickly and were barely recognizable as human beings._

_Teague looked about quickly... it had been 6 weeks since they had left Ireland with valuable information that they ended up gathering in Dublin, his home city, and the informants were reliable old friends. They required only minimal payment once they found out that Teague was looking for his child._

_Casting his black eyes around while holding his pistol to the terrified Culpepper's face, Teague finally spotted something that made his hardened heart jump. In the darkness, a pair of eyes stared at him... brown, sick eyes... a pair of eyes, just like Maggie's._

_Ordering his first mate to take the pistol, Teague knelt down in the stinking darkness toward the frightened, fever bright eyes that looked straight into his... and there was a flicker of recognition, and Teague had to try with all of his might to keep tears from his eyes..._

_"... Papa...?"_

_Reaching out his hand ever so slowly, Teague whispered, "... Jackie...?"_

_The brown eyes filled with tears._

_۞_

_The crew of the Star of Madagascar cheered as her cannons blew the Queen of the Dark into oblivion. The crew of the slaveship was set adrift in their longboat, and the shipboard slaves were brought aboard the Star to be taken to the next pirate friendly port, and set free. The Star's pirate captain did not watch the sinking of the Queen, as he was trying to comfort the screaming child that was in his cabin... the firing of the cannons had scared him out of his wits, and with good reason..._

_He was nothing but skin and bones... his ribs were protruding, and it was evident that some had been broken at one time... his skin was ashen, and he was wracked with dysentery and a case of scurvy. He was caked with his own waste, and had some scars that a frail nine year old boy should not have. His small right ankle was raw and calloused from having an iron ring around it more than likely since he was brought aboard the ship, and his slender, long hands and his knees were red and rough from endlessly swabbing deck boards ._

_The thing that made Teague nearly sick with absolute fury was two rotting teeth in his boy's lower jaw, and the child's hair... what was not falling out from malnutrition was grown out past his shoulders, over his face, matted and ridden with lice. He would have to shave his son's thick, black hair right down to his very skin... There was no excuse for any of this complete indignity..._

_As he finally was able to quiet his child's crying, he ordered that a bucket of warm water and towels be brought into his cabin, as well as a razor for his hair, and some warm broth. And as he gently bathed his silent nine year old son, he thought, "... my little bird... my little bird... I found him, Janie... and I am bringing him home to Eire...' _

_'...I cannot stay... he is just like his mother and I know that once he has the chance, he will run away and break my heart, again... but I am bringing him home, for now... I will care for him as best as I can, now, and in the future, but from a distance... I will keep in touch with you, Janie ... and I will hold up my end of our accord... your father will pay for this... he will pay for what he did to my son, to the woman that I would have married, and to you...he will pay, but we will wait for the opportune moment..."_

_And Edward Jonathan Teague remorselessly thought of the one who had paid first. Captain Culpepper had demanded to know this pirate captain's name as he was unlocking the slave boy's shackles... as he stood up, Teague's cold reply was, "Where you are going, it won't matter what my name is..."_

_And with a Gaelic oath of damnation, he had calmly pulled the trigger and blew his son's tormentor's brains out..._

_To be continued..._


	15. The Captain's Promise

۞

"OI! Bugger! Janie!" Jack whined, as Janie slapped him hard across his shoulder, her blue eyes flashing and her jaw set in anger... "Janie, I didn't mean to..."

"Ye didn't mean to _what_, Jack Sparrow? Izzy is out on the back steps trying not to become ill because of _you_! You and your weak attempts at humour!" Janey smacked the captain soundly across his shoulder, again, as his hands flew up in defense. "OW!"

They were standing in the kitchen, and Janie was admonishing Jack rather loudly for a comment that he had made during the conversation by the fire... an attempt to lessen the impact of the horror of the truths that were being imparted to the Turners upon this rainy, dark morning.

Seeing that Jack still did not understand what he had done wrong, Janie angrily put her hands on her hips, her rosy cheeks aflame, and her loose curls around her face being blown straight up by a huff from her exasperated lips. Jack blinked at her, then turned to look at the clearly upset Elizabeth out upon the back stoop... William was with her, his arms around her, pulling her into his chest as she tried not to be ill.

Placing her hand upon firmly Jack's cheek, Janie turned his clearly vexed face back to hers, her eyes softening and her tone quieting.

"Jack... darlin'... I know that ye have a naturally sunny nature, and that ye are tired of hearing what needs to be told, but ye didn't stop to think that this is the first time that your cousins have had any inkling of what you went through... what you, your father and I went through, but especially _you_...'

'...do ye realize how sickening it is to them, to hear that you had were rife with lice? That you were malnourished and losing your teeth, and were only a day or so away from death,while shackled to dead bodies in a stifling ship's hold? To clearly hear that there are truly horrid people in this world that would inflict such evil of prejudice on a beautiful little gypsy boy that had done no wrong? In our blunt Irish way, we have thrown it in their faces, Jack ... they love you dearly... think of it, darlin'... what if it was one of them saying these things to you about one of themselves, and then made light of such horror?"

The captain thought about it for a moment, placing his hand over Janie's, upon his dark cheek. Sighing, he said, quietly, "I didn't mean to upset anyone, love... but I have t' make light of it, sometimes, because if I didn't, I might lose what snippets of sanity I have left..." Jack's eyes revealed a tiny spark of fear as they searched Janie's now understanding ones.

"I know ye didn't mean any harm, Jack, but it was your timing, I think... ye need to talk to Izzy... ye have to remember, she and her handsome lad might someday have children, and all of this talk about what happened... " Janie replied. She stroked Jack's cheek, lovingly, for a moment, and then wordlessly nodded toward the young couple on the back door steps...

As Jack slowly walked through the kitchen and toward the back door, wondering what to say, Janie shook her head and thought that Elizabeth being made privy to the horrors of Jack's and Janie's past would truly fill her with complete abhorrance, if she was, indeed, carrying a child... a child that, in another circumstance, might have been subjected to the complete degradation and pain that had befallen a very young and very innocent Jack Sparrow, because of another's cold, blinding greed.

۞

Elizabeth was trying hard to swallow and was clinging to William's dark shirt, as she heard the familiar uneven sound of boot steps, and the even more familiar jingle of braids full of beads. A husky clearing of a throat, and a voice saying, "... is she alright? Izzy, love, are ye alright?"

She did not raise her eyes from her husband's chest, as her face was buried against the long, jagged scar on William's chest. His heart was beating strongly and reassuringly against her forehead... she pressed into William's chest even more firmly. She found her voice, falteringly, and said, "Yes, Jack. I'm alright."

"I'm sorry, love... I was just trying t'..."

"I know, Jack... it just upset me a little..."

William spoke up, gently, with the hint of a smile in his voice, "Jack is trying to apologize, my love."

"I know..." Elizabeth finally was able to weakly look up at William and Jack, and looking at the truly remorseful captain, she swallowed hard, again, and managed a smile. "I'm sorry, too, Jack. I know that you are trying to make light of what happened to you... but..." the vision of a little boy violated such as Jack had been made her nauseous. She ran a hand over her stomach, the chunk of Connemara marble from her pocket in her hand, as if to soothe her with its coolness... Janie, who was idly heating water in the kitchen, noticed this, but said nothing.

Jack was slicing a lime with a paring knife, and he looked up at the young couple, tilting his head to one side. He pursed his lips and said, softly, "Sometimes I don't take into consideration that not everyone realizes tha' slavery is not jus' wot one reads about in books... it exists right now, as we speak, an' it is still bein' practiced... an' there are others that are treated even worse than I was...'

'... if I may be blunt, the crew o' th' Queen o' th' Dark did everything to me except rape me... an' they tried, but I managed t' fight that one off...I'm sorry, but it's true... " his haunted brown eyes cast themselves back down at the lime that was turning in his tapered fingers under the paring knife, as the Turners watched him... Jack began to chew his lower lip, and the young couple finally let go of each other and moved closer to his side, as the rain dripped off of the porch overhang... it was as if the Inn, itself, was not wishing to hear these things... William lightly slipped an arm around his cousin's shoulder for reassurance. Jack took a deep breath, and drew himself up proudly.

"... as much as I tried, I could not outrun my debt t' Davy Jones, nor could I outrun th' Beastie... they are of another world, an' it was a world that I was brought back from by others because I could not do anything t' help meself; the same thing for what befell me as a child...'

'...but slavery, itself - one human being's cruelty t' an innocent tha' he considers beneath 'im? Welllll..." the captain kept slicing the lime, and his voice grew dangerously quiet,"... that is something tha' I can do a thing about, if it is presented t' me in certain ways..."

Suddenly stopping, and staring up at William and Elizabeth next to him, Jack's eyebrows drew together in a dark, angry frown. "... let me make one promise t' ye, cousins... I may not be completely trustworthy t' most, nor am I honest t' most... I can be devious, selfish, downright despicable... but I can promise ye tha' there are five people, including Joshamee Gibbs and my father, tha' can completely trust me... an' I am bein' as honest as I know how t' be wif three o' those five people right now, because I love them. They are stayin' at this inn wif me, an' two of them sail wif me. They are me family, an' are entitled t' know about me, good an' bad... I'm not hiding anything from them anymore...ye told me yesterday, William, that no man is an island... ye're seeing only one o' the other sides of this island, savvy?'

Raising a finger to emphasize the importance of what he was saying, Jack continued, seriously, "... I can and will promise to all o' those tha' I love tha' I may not always be so honourable where adults are concerned, but if I witness an innocent child bein' abused or terrorized in any way such as th' way tha' I was, I will practice a kind of honour that only other pirates might understand... I will _kill_ them wot is responsible for hurting a child. An' if two that I love... my cousin an' his wife..." the captain stared straight into the Turners' eyes,"... if my cousin an' his wife ever have a child, I will consider tha' child to be mine, as well, if my cousins will have that from me..."

Taking a bite of a slice of lime, the captain said, "... I will do me best t' make sure tha' said child is protected... I will not tolerate witnessin' any little one's innocence bein' robbed from them like it was robbed from me," the captain's voice became bitter, "... I will not tolerate it... I am that much o' me father... I will kill t' protect an innocent child... I would wager tha' ye'd never thought ye'd hear Captain Jack Sparrow say anything like that, did ye?"

Watching William's and Elizabeth's faces begin to smile at him with pride, Jack then leaned back, his hands spreading out to his sides, and said, "...an' even though ye took wot I said th' wrong way, Izzy, I still think that th' sight o' little Jack Sparrow wif 'is head shaved an' two brand new silver teeth might have been an amusing one...'

"... my papa could 'ave certainly not missed his own skinny, bald little whelp in a crowd, could he? Picture it, mates! A tiny little me, wif two silver teeth and no hair!" He grinned, his hands upon his chest, dripping with lime juice, the two lower teeth that were crowned in silver shining at them, polished by the lime that he was enjoying with such relish.

As they watched this odd man turn and wobble back into the kitchen, they pulled each other close in the misty Irish chill. They watched their captain with only a moment of concern, as he stopped, his hands in midair, and turned to talk in Gaelic to someone that he thought was standing next to him... he even paused to offer a slice of lime to someone who was not there. After a rather animated conversation with that no one, he touched his hands to his head for the briefest of moments, as if trying to remember where he was, then continued into the inn.

The captain's small attempt at humour might have been an amusing thought, if they could only put out of their minds the fact that a very small, innocent Jack had been beaten, scarred and nearly starved to death at the cruel hand of Captain Culpepper, and would have died, if Captain Teague had not rescued his son when he did. Their captain would always be troubled by the ravages that scurvy and dysentery had left upon his body in making it weak against other illness, and would always battle the mental damage inflicted by the actions of Thomas Ó Madáin ... but he could also be fully assured that his loved ones would never let him suffer from these afflictions for long... they would always be by his side to help him through his darkness... the two of them, and Janie O'Madden...

And they felt a bit of warmth come over them as they watched Jack smile blissfully at the auburn haired innkeeper, who was wrapping her arms around his thin waist, resting her cheek upon his shoulder, her eyes closed. She sighed as he buried his nose in her curls. Her arms affectionately tightened around him, and she raised her head and looked into his eyes. They shared a brief, chaste, lime flavoured kiss...

William and Elizabeth did the same thing... . if they were learning anything during their stay in this wonderful place, it was that love endured... like as if they needed reminding of that fact.

The Turners were learning that no matter how one perceived Captain Jack Sparrow, whether it was as a friend, an enemy, a loved one or simply a pirate, he was the result of the cruelty of the world... he had been molded and bent by the hands of those who had nearly killed him for their own gains, so was it any wonder that he had turned out the way that he had? Taking what he could? He did give back, in spite of himself, and it was William's and Elizabeth's opinion, now, that Jack was entitled to live and act any way that he damn well pleased, no matter what, profit or no profit... they were pirates, too, and they now understood a man that they had once thought of as an impossible enigma...

Janie finally came out and interrupted William's and Elizabeth's lingering kiss on the back step... even in the rain, the lovely sound of the waterfall in the forest could still be heard, and it seemed to block out all awareness to the young couple for a moment...

Tapping her foot, Janie waited for them to glance at her, suddenly giggling and a bit self-conscious. "... it's cold out here, you two... let's go back t' th' fireside... the two of you are putting off enough steam to fog up this clearing for two more days..." and with that, they went back in for more of the stories that Jack and Janie had to tell...

۞

The foursome, by now, all had their feet propped up on the well-worn trunk, swaddled in the cozy blankets, their mood lightened a bit by the fact that the rain was letting up. Jack was still slurping noisily on slices of lime... William snickered and said, "If you eat many more limes, Jack, you are going to turn green..."

"I've been green, before, cousin, but from the effects of bad rum...mmm, no scurvy for ol' Jack, mates_...sluuurp..."_ Offering a slice of lime to Janie, she accepted it, and they both happily puckered up their faces at each other as they bit into them... Janie was leaning heavily into Jack's side, and he lazily draped an arm around her...

Janie licked a finger, and, laying her head back onto Jack's welcoming shoulder, she finally said, "... I was shocked one day, when my governess told me that I was to be taking additional tutoring at Saint Patrick's Church... we were members of the parish, but I was sent to church with my governess... my father never attended mass..."

As William and Elizabeth got comfortable with in each other's arms, each with a hot mug in their hands, the fire popped a bit, once more, and Janie began...

"... my father never attended mass... what an absurd thing to say about him! Of _course_, he never attended mass... God would have struck him down at the bloody front door of the church!" she mused with utter and complete repugnance, "...anyway, imagine my utter shock when my governess was excused for the morning, and I was escorted to the quarters of the priests behind the church... I was taken to a dark, stonewalled hallway in the parsonage, to get one of the biggest surprises of my life..."

_To be continued..._


	16. Loving Reunion and Thoughts of Revenge

۞

_Little did Janie know that white haired Father Gerald had a brother who was a pirate out of Belfast, and so he was familiar with pirate ways... He was a good Catholic priest, but he was also a man who had love for others whether they attended mass or not, and he had no concern for trying to gather a flock into the walls of Saint Patrick's if he could benefit others in other ways... and piracy was the right course at times, especially if it lined the coffers of the church, and the pockets of his robes, once in a while. The middle aged priest quietly told little Janie these things as he led her into the rectory, the passageway lit throught its gothic windows by the bright Connemara sunshine outside. _

_"Now, lassie, I will be leaving you to the watchful eye of another for a while... ye weren't brought here for tutoring this morning, but ye won't be getting out of that for long, as that part of things were true enough," Father Gerald told her, his florid face smiling. Janie had always liked him and his grandfatherly ways. "Wait here, Mary Jane... someone is waiting for ye." And inexplicably, the priest left her with a sign of the cross and a jolly wink._

_Janie waited, biting her nails and wondering... who could it be... Father Gerald mentioned pirates...she was hoping against hope, but had almost given up in recent weeks. It seemed like the minutes turned into hours, when a dark shadow emerged from a room halfway down the passage... a stocky shadow, with long, black braids, a broad brimmed hat with long feathers, and a swaying gait. Janie gasped loudly, as she resisted the urge to run right into Captain Teague's arms. She was not sure if there was cause to be happy, yet. Once his face was illuminated by the sunshine from the windows, she knew..._

_Teague's craggy face was smiling only slightly, but the eyes that usually had an ominous glitter were now sparkling like black diamonds. "... I found him, Janie... it was me that sent for ye..."_

_Janie burst forward into the pirate captain's waiting arms, auburn curls bouncing. "Jack! Jackie!!! Where is he? You found him!!!" And suddenly, the pain and anguish of all of what had befallen them washed over her again, and clinging to the patient man who had trusted her word and had further trusted her with the small fortune of pirate gold that was well hidden, Janie swallowed hard and bravely choked back tears. She didn't want Jackie to see her tears..._

۞

_Teague knew that he had to take the time to explain to Janie the condition that Jack was in. He was a reticent man, not given to many words, but there was something about this little girl that made him put complete sentences together, and gently. He found himself talking to her more than he had ever talked to anyone in his life, including his own mother._

_He thought of his mother every day... her name was Evangeline, and she had shrugged off the conventions of society like as if she had been a gypsy, herself... perhaps she was, he didn't know, but she was like a cool autumn mist over the Irish bogs... beautiful and dark, a free spirit. She had married twice, to his own father after Edward Jonathan Teague was born. His own father died at sea, and young Jonathan Teague had then heard that his widowed mother had married, again, after he had gone to sea as a cabin boy. She had left Eire for Scotland, and he had heard that she had married a young sailor named Turner... in fact, he had heard that he might have a baby half brother, then, and his name was William Turner. He had never seen his mother, again, as she had gone to sea with her husband and had gone down in a wild ocean storm, but Jonathan knew that his mother would have loved going out that way... he had never met the younger half brother that he supposedly had, young Bill Turner._

_Sitting down in a chair in the passageway, Teague explained to Janie how the Star of Madagascar had found The Queen of the Dark... and he told Janie the cold, hard truth. There was no use in shining any of the story up for this child, as she had already seen the horrors of the world, and no doubt would see more. He knew that she could handle the truth, and the condition that Jackie was in._

_Janie's hands were shaking with excitement as Teague held them, and he took great pains to warn Janie that Jackie may be changed from the little boy that she knew... three hard years had passed, and Jack had a strange gleam to his eyes at times. The child had told his papa that he never wanted to ever stay in one place again, like he had been forced to do in slavery, and Teague knew that Jackie had never been born to a sedentary life, even if he had not been kept in chains... he was the son of a gypsy woman and a pirate captain... the grandson of a free spirited Irish sprite and a freewheeling sailor from Dublin... destiny had implanted freedom within this child so strongly that he would never be able stay in one place for long, and it was now an obsession with the boy._

_"I want to ask one thing of you, Janie. I want you to try to help Jackie learn to read and write in English, and learn his sums, if you would. He is a smart boy, and I want him to have some education before he strikes out on his own... promise me..."_

_Janie looked up at the weathered face in puzzlement for a moment, and then she realized that Teague was right... Jack had no legal guardian because his parents had never married, and Jack would never stay in the care of the church for long... no one knew what had driven Maggie and Teague apart when Jack was a mere babe, and Teague was not of a mind to explain any of it, now. _

_Teague knew that Jackie would bear ill feelings toward him for leaving soon, but the boy was just like his mother, and Teague almost could not bear being around his boy this closely, he loved him so much... being reminded of not being able to save Maggie and take her as his wife would haunt Teague for the rest of his life, he knew... and the love that he had for his son would be all consuming, and neither Jack or Teague was meant for that kind of love... Teague would have to leave, but he would always be in contact some way... he did not know how, but the girl was a clever one, and they would stay in touch, somehow... _

_"Promise me, Janie, that you will help my son with his schooling... it can only help him to have that knowledge... he might be illigitimate, but I will not settle for my son to not be able to read and write... I already taught him some of his letters and numbers, and he speaks English, now..."_

_"I promise, captain... I will help Jack with his lessons... " Janie nodded, looking longingly at the closed door that Teague had emerged from._

_Teague gently made the child look at him, again, and said, "I'm glad that ye knew Jack's mother... for Jackie is very much like her. He is like th' wind. He is a free spirit. I will warn ye, he is in denial about many of th' things that have happened, and I have no doubt that he will run away from troubles for the rest of his life, rather than face them head on. He will run away from me, because until I can find the courage to tell him th' whole story, he will blame me for leaving him an' Maggie...' Teague paused for only a moment, then continued..._

_'...I can tell ye right now, lass, he will end up a pirate, just like I did... but he has a good heart... and that good heart will bode ill for him, someday... help him to guard that good heart, Janie... he loves you so much, and if he felt that YOU were ever t' abandon him, his heart would break for certain... my son's heart is worth more than all of th' gold in th' world... help guard his heart, child, as I have no doubt that I will break it a little when I leave for Shipwreck Island without him once I know that he is well..."_

_۞_

_When they entered the room, the first thing that Janie saw was bright, warm sunshine streaming in from the open window... the birds were singing, and the breeze was rife with autumn warmth and the smell of salt air from Kilkearan Bay filled the room. There was a lovely little potted shamrock plant on the windowsill, it's green leaves fluttering like Janie's happy heart. It was as if life, itself, had started, again! Once Janie's eyes had adjusted, she saw him._

_Sitting up in bed upon a pile of pillows, with school books all around him, was her best friend, Jack. He was bony and thin, but six weeks of weak broth, then soup, then stew, then good, hearty food was finally helping. During the voyage back from the coast of Morocco, his father had often carried him out to the main deck of the Star, and held him, all bundled in blankets, so that the emaciated child could take in the sun's warmth and benefits, and his yellow pallor and the purple scarring from the scurvy had been replaced by beautiful deep, bronzed gypsy darkness! His head had been shaved, but his hair was already growing back, blacker and thicker than ever before... and his eyes... Janie's heart leaped for joy when she saw Maggie's glowing, mischievious, sparkling brown eyes!_

_Jack's pinched face lit up, and he almost fell out of the bed with glee... "JANIE!!!"_

_Janie finally leaped forward, laughing, " JACK!!!" and she immediately scrambled onto the bed, throwing her arms around his thin frame, pulling a blanket around him, hugging him with all of the strength that she could muster without hurting him._

_It was then that the two children looked deeply into each other's eyes, and quaking hard, held onto each other tightly. Jackie was still much too weak, or he might have even scampered out of bed and into a sailor's jig, with Janie capering beside him, kicking up her expensive slippers' heels... but curling into each other's happy arms, on a bed in a priest's rectory, was very much enough, as they whispered to each other in Gaelic... endlessly hugging each other, with Janie even planting a clumsy kiss on Jack's high cheekbone... he giggled. They then fell into more whispering, with Janie bundling the blanket around her friend, snugly, and Jackie flushing deeply with pleasure, much to Janie's delight... he struggled to hug her back. There was so much to talk about..._

_Feeling relief overcome him, Teague pulled up a chair and sat down heavily... the children were oblivious to him at this point, and this was a good thing... as his thoughts turned to Maggie... then back to the happy scene before him._

_Jonathan Teague knew that these two little ones were now joined at the heart for eternity... even if they were parted by the sea, by land, or by death, itself, he knew that neither of them would ever be without the other, again... and for that, he would always love young Janie O'Madden, for saving his beloved son's life in more ways than one, and maybe lifting his own heart a little..._

_... and Teague also knew that someday, the dark possibility might present itself for his son to save Janie... he had no doubt that Thomas Ó Madáin_ _would cause his daughter deep, deep pain... perish what was going to happen to the son-of-a-bitch, Teague thought to himself, once the opportune moment presented itself...but the timing would have to be absolutely perfect... it might take years, and Teague hoped that Jack and Janie would be able to keep each other's hearts from breaking, but there must be the perfect timing for the absolute perfect revenge..._

_To be continued..._


	17. The Thoughts of Two Pirate Captains

۞

The rain had stopped... it was still dark and misty out upon the cove, but the Black Pearl, which had made herself almost invisible in the gloom of early morning, was now seen in all of her slumbering, moored glory. Jack was leaning in the partially open kitchen doorway, looking out at his dark ship through half-closed eyes as he sipped on a tankard of rum... he'd had little sleep the night before, and was tired, but he rarely napped and the storytelling felt very good... a great weight had been lifted from him, he thought, strangely... his steps were a bit lighter and he felt, for lack of a better term, cleaner, since this morning... he would be at a loss for words if asked to explain how he felt. Turning around, he leaned the opposite way in the doorway and observed the goings-on with a small smile tugging at the corners of his mustache.

Conversation was continuing around the kitchen table as Janie prepared the noon meal... Elizabeth was watching closely as Janie punched down and kneaded the bread dough that would be baked later in the day... warm, fresh bread that Jack loved, drowned in butter...

Janie had put on a fine kettle of stobhach gaelach, much to Jack's delight...it was known to the rest of the world simply as Irish lamb stew, and it was one of Jack's very favorites... and Janie knew it. It had been simmering all morning... Janie had prepared it last night and had put it on over the cookfire when they first got up before dawn, but the captain had been too distraught to notice much... he had put on his coat, and dejectedly gone down to sit, all alone, at the end of the dock until the Turners came down to turn his emotions around for him...

Strange, he thought, that seemed like it took place days ago, yet it was only hours ago. But then, the most closely guarded piece of his life history had been laid out in front of everyone in the time that it took a shank of lamb, onions, barley, potatoes and carrots to simmer. Odd feeling, that, he pondered. The captain meandered over and inhaled the aroma of the stew deeply, his hands lightly fanning the steam to his sniffing nose. It was something that he only liked when Janie made it... because it was Maggie who had taught her.

Ahhhh, his Janie, he thought. William was right. He needed to tell her how he felt... but he had to think of just the right way. He knew that as well as anyone in the world, for it was true... Jack Sparrow loved his Janie with all of his black pirate heart, and it was time that she heard it out loud.

Strange that he had resisted acknowledging the feeling of love until he had almost lost her, because of a foolish quarrel that never should have taken place. He had always told him that he did not need love... just occasional visits to the ladies in port. Jack even admitted to himself that visits to the wenches had _always_ left him feeling cold and sad, made all the more so because of the bravado that he would have to muster up to show off to everyone what a man he was... more times than not he would wait until they were disrobing, take any money or jewelry that he could pilfer and abscond into the night to get drunk, not even taking advantage of their rather dubious charms... he enjoyed getting drunk and singing the night away much more than the wenches... this was why he earned so many slaps, and he had done this almost exclusively since his and Janie's last parting... he would get drunk and run away from the vexation that Janie had inspired.

It was definitely not the same when he made love with his Janie... it never had been, nor would it ever be, for with Janie it was truly making love... with her, it was sweet and intoxication, almost pure with her natural unpainted loveliness ... with his Janie it was a wondrous, joyful thing, not just some cheap grinding away, and a toss of some coins with some equally cheap words... suddenly he felt dirty, using his own body as a means of leverage, sometimes for the exchange of information or in trade for something that would profit... but he was a pirate, and pirates did things such as that, he thought sadly.

Jack knew that he and Janie had no kind of ownership over each other, nor did they want to... but she was so special to him, and was he treating her in a special way by treating himself like that?... He had never thought of his own body as special, but Janie seemed to think it was... he was not at all used to having thoughts like this present themselves to him with such clarity... and for once he did not push them away...

He was finding that he was no longer afraid... of course, it helped that his best friends were here with him and his other best friend, so that he could muster up just the right way to say "I love you" and make it sound like it should... should he say it in English or Gaelic... maybe both? Would she believe him? As he watched his Janie go about preparing the meal, with Elizabeth in tow, helping, the captain noticed William watching him with a raised eyebrow and a grin.

Aye, it was time, he glanced back at his young cousin, who started to chuckle at Jack's obvious staring, with complete adoration in his eyes, at the one who was wiping her hands on her apron as she instructed Elizabeth about the proper kneading of the bread dough...

Jack wordlessly assured his first mate with a nudge of the thoughts that they shared, as they both sat contentedly at the table. William merely nudged his captain back for moral support, and sipped his rum. The moment would come... the moment would come...

۞

Jack fell back on his word to himself that he would not nap - it was something that he did not do naturally - but his frightful sleeplessness of the nightmare-ridden night before caught up with him... he was dozing against Janie's shoulder after three helpings of the stobhach gaelach, complete with a large slab of bread and several helpings of cheese... and he was alternately snoring softly, and burping indelicately. His three companions let him nap... he deserved some peaceful sleep after the plagueing nightmare, and laying his soul bare to all... something that might have been a tiring feat, in itself, for one who had taken such pains to hide his soul for so many years.

Once again, by the fireplace, the two couples were nestled on the old leather couch in front of the fire. William had thrown another chunk of peat upon the flames, and it inspired Janie to continue...

"Jack was an excellent student in his schooling, I must say," Janie started, smiling with pride at the one who had just comfortably belched a little... making her laugh in her lilting way. "He could read and write beautifully, but his command of the spoken word was tad bit lacking when it came to pronunciation in English..."

Elizabeth giggled a little, and added, "He does have trouble with it, doesn't he? ... 'drawing' is 'drarw-ing', and his 'th' sounds sometimes come out as 'f'... my favorite is 'much more better'. "

"... he can't pronounce 'supernatural'... it comes out 'supernashrural'...not to mention using words simply because he likes the sound of them, like 'ecumenically'... " William laughed.

"... I heard that... "Jack mumbled, his eyes still closed.

"... and what does it mean, Jack?" Janie asked with an arched eyebrow, talking to the top of Jack's braided head.

"... 'ec-u-men-ic-al-ly'... " the captain pronounced each syllable with great care, as if getting ready to spell it out,"... the use of one's 'ecumen'..." Opening one eye and looking up at Janie, he said, wickedly, "Want to see my 'ecumen', love?"

Janie rolled her eyes, and said, "I've seen it. I'm not impressed. Show me something else."

Jack closed his one eye, but wiggled his eyebrows, as the Turners laughed.

۞

_Almost three more months passed, and Janie continued to visit Jack at Saint Patrick's, both of them receiving tutoring. Jack did prove to be an excellent student, reading and writing beyond what was expected of him, and also very good with numbers. To Janie's dismay, but not to her surprise, her friend's reasoning was that these skills would help him become an excellent candidate for a ship's cabin boy._

_Jack's health improved by great lengths, and quickly, under the care of Father Gerald, and he was already becoming quite a handful when Teague would come to see how his boy was doing. With each day that Jack improved, Teague sadly knew that the day was coming closer that he would have to leave. His son was already talking about leaving with him for Shipwreck Island, and Teague could feel his heart cracking in two again... he was not taking Jackie with him... Janie did not understand why, but it was not for her to ask... she was only feeling another sadness descending upon her as she knew that soon, both of them might be gone, and she would be left in Galway, alone, again. At least this time, she told herself, Jack would be leaving upon his own accord, and she felt better for that, but not much._

_One morning, as they were practicing their writing skills together, their study was inturrupted by a soft knock at the door. It was Father Gerald, and he was not his usual jolly self. Jack was unsuspecting as he practiced a very skillful 'Q', with his tongue sticking out the corner of his mouth, but Janie knew what was coming._

_The priest sat down with the pair, asking general questions about how the lesson was going and reviewing their practiced letters... Jack kept looking at the door for his father, as it was usually about this time of day that Teague would come to take him down to the docks to look at the different ships that had come in, or the cargo that they were taking on..._

_Teague did not come..._

_It was then that Father Gerald sadly took out a letter for the each of the children... Janie's reading skills were more advanced than Jack's so she quietly read hers off in a corner by herself, as Father Gerald began. Jack's dark eyes were getting wider and wider, as he could tell, even at only 10 years old, now, that something was not right..._

_"Dearest Janie,_

_As I told you, I waited until I knew that Jackie was well enough that I would be leaving for Shipwreck Island, and now is the time... by the time that Father Gerald delivers these letters, I will have been gone since yesterday morning, when I brought Jack back to Saint Patrick's from our last trip down to the docks._

_I know that he will never understand, and I don't wish for you to defend my actions in any way, child. You probably won't understand, either... but three months have passed since I found Jack, and it is time... he has much kindness in him, and the only way that he will survive in this world is by my leaving him, and trying to watch him from a distance._

_I love my son with all of my heart, Janie, but I cannot provide what he needs the most right now, and that is his freedom. He would become too dependant upon me, which would hurt both of us terribly. He will be better off trying to make his way just like I did, and just like his mother did._

_I hope that you do not judge me too harshly, as I am very, very fond of you, too... and I do not want you to believe for one moment that I will fail you or my Jackie, if either of you should ever call upon me._

_I will keep in touch with you, Janie. You may send letters to me in care of Shipwreck Island... the method is easy... as silly as it sounds, simply send a message to me by putting it in a bottle and throwing it into the bay... do not ask me to explain, but it will reach me, and quickly._

_I am relying upon you, Janie, to help my boy. He will have a very hard time in life, but this is the only way... he is very smart, and savvy to the ways of the world, now. I am making a promise to you, though, that what has happened to Maggie, my son, and anything that happens to you by the hand of your father will be avenged. Have faith in me... I have a plan._

_With highest regards, and yes, with love,_

_Captain Edward Jonathan Teague_

_۞_

_Janie's heart was pounding in her ears. She looked up at Father Gerald, who had been reading Jack's letter to him... the words were a blur to her, but they were very clear to Jack. Janie studied her best friend's face, as Jack sadly gazed over at his small sea bag, waiting to be packed. He was listening intently to the priest's soothing voice, as something was being read to him about an accompanying package, and the Brethren Court, and a pirate lord._

_"Wot's a 'pirate lord', Father?" Jack asked the priest, his voice barely above a whisper. He looked up at Father Gerald. Surprisingly, there were no tears. Only deep, dark sadness and what seemed like resignation..._

_"Your father left a package for you, son... I don't know what a pirate lord is, only that your father states in his letter that the Pirate Lord of the Caribbean died at Shipwreck City, and requested for your father to pass along his 'piece of eight' to a worthy successor, since Captain Bones died without an heir. Your father thinks that you would be a fine successor... it says in the letter that the Brethren Court has never convened in his lifetime, so your title would be mostly just for show, Jackie. Your father is a former Pirate Lord of Madagascar, but his title was dissolved when he became the Keeper of the Code."_

_"Wot makes my father think that I want t' be a pirate?" Jack answered sullenly. "I just want t' be a sailor... I just want to sail away and be free... "_

_The priest handed the package to the unhappy child, as Janie quietly came to his side, putting an arm around his back and pulling him close. "What's in the package, Jack?"_

_Curiously, Jack opened the rough paper, and caught his breath... his eyes widened, and he looked at Janie, who was staring hard at the contents of the parcel. The meaning was lost upon the priest, but Jack and Janie knew the significance of the gifts that Teague had left, and Jack felt the bitterness that he was prepared to aim toward his fearsome father fade away, somewhat._

_As he and Janie lifted the gift from the paper spread out upon the table, Jack Sparrow thought that he might never understand why his father did things the way that he did, but it did not mean that he did not love his father... more than anything, he wanted to leave with Teague, but deep down he had suspected that his father would leave him behind... he felt a bitter sinking feeling of abandonment, but he also knew that there was a reason... he just did not know what it was...maybe he would someday..._

_Jack Sparrow knew that he was now on his own... and he would not be staying in Galway much longer... he would always come back, he would not abandon his Janie, but he hoped that she would understand that the siren song of freedom was pulling him out to sea... he was born to be at sea..._

_Looking at the object in his hands, he lifted it up and Janie helped him with it... it would be a symbol of what was to come in his life... a string of beautiful, colourful glass beads from Teague's home port of Madagascar, ending with Captain Bones' piece of eight - an elegant silver coin with an image of a lion upon it._

_The string of beads was a gift from his father... and it was attached to the most wondrous gift that his father could have left behind... a gypsy bandana, like the one that Janie had... a red bandana that was his mother's, that Teague had kept with him for all of these years, and now he was leaving it for his boy..._

_Tying it upon his head and looking at his Janie, he saw, reflected in her shining blue eyes, that Jack Sparrow would be somebody, even if it was only to himself, and to an auburn haired girl that would always love him, as much as he loved her..._

_... and he knew that he would do whatever he could to learn of the Brethren Court, and of the Pirata Codex that his father was the appointed keeper of, for Jack Sparrow knew that it would become his life, no matter how much he would, at first, try to avoid it..._

۞

As she stretched out her legs and kicked Jack into wakefulness, Janie said, "... and it was the following spring that Jack was able to sign on as a cabin boy... I convinced him to wait at least until he had gotten six months of lessons under his scrawny belt... and aye, he did manage to come back to see me twice a year, for five years!" Janie nudged Jack proudly, and he grumbled that his hand had gone to sleep as his arm was draped over her shoulder.

"How did you hold on, Janie? It must have been terrible living with your father, all alone." William asked.

"Oh... I had made do when Jack was away 'before'... and this time I knew that he would be back, " Janie answered, as she helped a sleepy Jack to slap his hand into wakefulness. "Ohhh, the fun that we would have when he came back to see me! He would hide up in the hayloft of my father's barn, and I would tell Father Gerald where I was so that I was really not playing hooky from my lessons! Father Gerald would let us hide in the rectory. Sometimes we would run through the meadows... many times Jack would commandeer a little boat of some kind and we would row all around the bay... the fun that we would have when Jack was back in Ireland always made up for the lonely times," she kept slapping his hand, and he was finally wiggling his tingling fingers.

Jack took up the story, "... Janie's father pretty much ignored her, an' she was good at sneakin' about under 'is nose, since 'e was gone most times... he had closed off most o' th' mansion, an' was always tryin' t' find ways t' pay off 'is bloody debts... who else did he sell into slavery, I wonder, " Jack muttered...".. other than me 'n' Janie?"

"What???" William leaned forward, as Elizabeth traded looks with Janie. "What did you say, Jack?"

"Well, William, Janie was pretty much sold into slavery, too... our dear Thomas sold his own flesh an' blood into an arranged marriage t' settle a debt. He had a habit of doing really rotten things t' people over money... and pirates have such a bad reputation!"

William was utterly astonished at this revelation... it was to Elizabeth's credit, Janie thought, that she did not tell her husband and left telling this part of the story to Janie...

Jack and Elizabeth elected to get some fresh air upon the front steps as Janie told William the story of her marriage to a man almost three times her age... and from the look upon William's face, she also told him that Sean O'Hennessey was not as lucky as he thought he was, snagging what he thought was a virgin bride to add to his collection of assets... William seemed almost relieved that Jack had been Janie's first lover... and it wasn't long ago, Jack thought, that such a discussion would have embarassed William to distraction.

"That filthy old man... " Janie was saying, as Jack and Elizabeth came back in, with William's look of increduality written across his handsome face. His eyes were flashing, and Elizabeth was looking at him with a bit of worry, as he fought down his anger.

William glanced up at her, and took her now chilled hands in his. Shaking his head, he said, coldly, "I can't abide rape of any kind... Jack, when you told us earlier that the crew of the Queen of the Dark tried to rape you, that made what Irish blood that I was given through our shared grandmother boil... but hearing what that monster, O'Hennessey, did to his own wife... "

William shook his head, turned to his cousin and said, "... I swear that I must be part gypsy, too, Jack... I would have killed Sean O'Hennessey for what he did to Janie... I would have killed him for doing that to one that I loved..." Elizabeth calmed him with her hand smoothing over her husband's back, soothingly... he still shook his head in utter disbelief...

Jack blew on his hands to warm them, and looked at William from under the edge of his bandana, a fire burning in the back of his eyes... a fire just like Teague's, Janie thought.

"...Well, William, as I said, Janie was sold into wot might be thought of as a form o' slavery... a loveless, arranged marriage for money... it was justified rape t' some people's eyes... have no worries, mate...we did kill him... but Sean O'Hennessey brought it upon 'imself..."

_To be continued..._


	18. The Death of Sean O'Hennessey

۞

"I was married for a grand total of 8 months," Janie reflected, as she recalled with distaste the day that she was wed. "I only had a matter of days to prepare, and Jack had sailed in from Jamaica ... he and Bill Turner had been pirating, although neither of them was really a pirate, just yet... they were just two young sailors that had simply hopped onboard a pirate vessel in Tortuga because that's where they had ended up, and that's where they decided to try buccaneering to expand their sailing expertise. Not that either of them was lacking as sailors... they were both born to it..." Janie glanced at Jack with a teasing, fond look. Jack was rubbing his eyes, and then frowned at the kohl on his knuckles. He looked up at her, and a glint of golden teeth caught the firelight.

'... when Jack came back to Connemara, I was absolutely distraught... there was nothing that could be done to stop my getting married to Sean, and my father was holding me under lock and key to keep me from running away. I was so tempted to, and with Jack, but we had no place to go or any way to get there... he had walked in from where Bill left him on the coast of County Clare. I was 17 years old, and Jack was just 15... we had no place to run to... Bill was in England, seeing his bonnie little boy, so he couldn't help us... and if I had gone into hiding, my father would have had every constable in Connacht Province looking for me... I climbed down the rose arbour, and into Jack's arms, to cry in the hayloft... "

۞

_Janie had resigned herself to this despicable arrangement... the day of the wedding was dark and rainy, and it was only a short ceremony in the small chapel off to the side at Saint Patrick's. She would never forget it..._

_Her father, 'giving her away'... what a joke, she thought, grimly. In a cold way, she was glad. It meant that she would not live under his roof anymore. Her father. Tall, pale, gaunt of face and gray of hair, his nose shaped like a hatchet and his eyes as cold as ice. Thank God she resembled her red haired and freckled mother. _

_Her father had prided himself on dressing nattily at all times, and everyone tried to not notice that he had been wearing the same two suits of clothing for over three years, now. Other people were no longer wondering if Thomas was in financial trouble... it was obvious to the rest of the village, since his only daughter was being married upon such short notice to the other most hated man in County Galway. Janie's father was the most feared and reviled landlord in the county, and Sean O'Hennessey was the most hated man of all... the money lender that Thomas more than likely owed an unpayable debt to. Janie O'Madden had become collateral, without even so much as a wedding ring. _

_Sean O'Hennessey was a bent over man of 60, old enough to be Janie's grandfather. He was leering at her during Father Gerald's words to them, and Father Gerald, himself, looked as disgusted as Janie felt... these two men who needed the benefits of confession more than anyone else in the county, yet they were two men who felt that they were simply conducting business... _

_Janie's face was like stone... but inside she was almost laughing at the absurdity of it all... she was wearing a white veil of virginity... if they only knew, she thought. Even upon this, her wedding night, she was planning to sneak away and meet her Jack... she would make sure that her husband's drink would have a touch of laudanum in it and she would spend a part of her night as a bride in the strong, slender arms of her best friend, in the hayloft in back of her father's mansion... what wickedness, she thought, as she ran through the darkness toward the warm comforting embrace of the boy that she loved...she was feeling a bit like a pirate, herself, upon this night. Jack was the only happy, bright and shining thing in her life, and he was none too happy, himself, at the situation... there was nothing that he could do to stop the marriage, but he would try to come up with a way to remedy things for his Janie, even if it was to provide an escape for only a few hours at a time..._

_She could laugh with Jack...but married life was not laughable. Sean was a cold man in more ways than one, and forcing himself upon Janie whenever he pleased became a daily occurance. He almost delighted in causing his young bride pain, as he was known as a womanizer and had many methods of dominating his conquests... all of them involved pain. She had numerous bruises all over her for months, and they were always in places that could not be seen... she bled for days at a time, sometimes, and she cried until she could no longer cry... there were times that she nearly took up hiding a dagger under her skirt, like Maggie had... _

_Jack helplessly went back to sea, sick at heart for his Janie and angry at himself for not having the means to take her away from her plight... he thought of kidnapping her, but he had no money, he had no ship, and by the time that Bill met up with him, Janie was a married woman. They had both tried to convince Janie to run away with them, but she knew better... two starving sailors with a woman posing as a starving sailor would not fare any better than just two starving sailors, so they reluctantly left without her. _

_But as he left, Jack made Janie take a solemn vow that she would hang on... and he would be back within the year, he promised... he sealed that promise with a deep, passionate kiss, and with that, Janie knew that her beautiful gypsy boy would keep that promise... she kept watching the horizen from her lonely home on the cobblestone street leading down to the harbour..._

_... by the time that he came back, Janie would have been beaten at least once a month, and would have lost one pregnancy when she was pushed down the stairs at the money changing office. She had come to tell her husband that they were expecting, and he flew into a rage... he wanted no children at his age, and she had become pregnant to spite him! He had even accused her of adultery, which she was not guilty of... yet. A fine thing, since he was known to have a mistress in County Clare. __Janie finally had enough, and had told him that yes, she did love another, and angrily told him that she had given herself to her lover only days before the wedding... but she made the mistake of admitting this at the top of the stairs..._

_All that she remembered was the pain... she was battered and bruised, with a black eye from being backhanded in fury, and the fall had caused a miscarriage. Not only that, she found out, it had caused damage... Janie would never bear a child. She was only 16 years old... as she laid in her bed in pain, she wished that she had taken the chance and had run away with Jack and Bill... anything would have been better than this pain...she cried, not because she had lost her husband's child, but because she would bear no man's child... _

_A month went by, and she healed on the outside... on the inside, she felt as though she was smothering... choking... dying... and for money... always dirty, filthy money. She thought, with a great deal of pride, that she had hidden Teague's pirate gold in a place that no one would ever find it... no one would have the courage to find it... she had not yet located the pirate gold that Teague had suspected her father of taking... but in paying for information secretly around the county, Janie found out that Thomas O'Madain had, indeed, intercepted gold that was meant for Maggie and Jack, by paying off the messenger that Teague had trusted with promises of a share of the treasure... but the messenger had disappeared, and no one had ever seen him again... was this more blood upon her cold father's hands?... was it any wonder that they were nearly starving that last year, and Maggie had been so weakened by hunger that the fever took her? _

_In a rather random moment, Janie prayed for another fever epidemic... and she prayed that someone, somewhere would find it suitable that her own father would contract it and die as terribly as Maggie had, then she laughed at herself at her own crazy thought... she was sounding more like Jack, every day._

_Jack... where was he these days, she wondered... it had been eight months since he had blown in like the wind... she wanted him... she needed him so badly... she wanted to break away from her own shackles and be a free woman..._

_Then... suddenly... a tap at the window pane... a pebble... Sean was not home, and someone knew it... Janie flew from her bed, and ran to the window, and she joyously looked down into the darkness into a pair of glowing, dark eyes under a familiar red bandana._..._ Jack!_

_Janie quickly gathered some food from the kitchen and ran out into the back courtyard and into Jack's waiting arms. As she threw herself at him, she nearly knocked him down... and they both laughed softly, grabbing each other's hands and running into the soft Irish night._

_Jack had a small rowboat pulled up onto the rocky shore only down the cobblestone street from the O'Hennessey house... it was not home to Janie... she had not had a home since her father had burned down Maggie Sparrow's wee cottage. As they rowed further and further out into the bay, they felt safe enough to talk... Jack stopped rowing when Janie's voice took a cold, hard edge. She was past tears, now, and in speaking of the abuse that she had been suffering, it sounded as if another person was talking in her voice, so detached she had become. Jack visibly swallowed hard when she spoke bluntly of the child that she had miscarried... the baby that she would have gladly borne if it had been his... even in the darkness, she could see his face redden with fury, but his words were unspoken..._

_As they pulled the small boat up onto the sandy beach of a small island out in the bay, Jack's eyes glowed in the dark... with guilt. He had not been able to protect his Janie from this monster... he felt like he had let her down... but as they spread a blanket out upon the sand and talked in each other's arms, he could at least offer her soul some protection. He could give her spirit protection. He could give her heart protection. Janie told him that things would work out... they would both be free someday... until then, they could only dream... and talk of a gypsy's life at sea, or a safe haven by a cove in a deep, forested glen... and the twinkling stars in the dark velvety sky... and the soft, warm wind sweeping up from the Connemara cliffs... a wind upon which Jack insisted he could hear music from his mother's Irish harp... _

۞

"Little did we know that Sean was having me watched the whole time that we were married," Janie said, as William and Elizabeth listened with dark frowns upon their faces. "I was being spied upon from morning until night, night until morning... the jealous bastard was wanting to catch me commiting adultery..."

"He didn't know that 'e was dealin' wif another jealous bastard... one who was really a 'bastard'!" Jack chuckled, turning his head with a jingling of beads and a golden smile. "... I love t' use that term when it really fits th' situation."

Janie looked at him for a moment, letting that one sink in, then she looked back at the Turners and said, "Sean, himself, actually followed us that night... he had heard that some young sailors were in town having a high time, and he wondered if one of them was having a high old time with his wife... " Janie snorted with disgust, and Jack began to laugh, when she said, "Jack and I had merely been laying on the beach, drinking stout and talking, when we finally kissed each other, and here he came! All piss and vinegar! The big man!" Janie's blue eyes flashed, as her face began to flush a little.

Jack reached over and took up her hand in hers, twiddling his fingers into hers, sweetly. "That doddering old twit came blustering up, all afire, calling my Janie a philanderin' whore! I took exception to that... " looking at Janie sideways, he said softly, "... philanderin', aye, but he called MY Janie a whore..."

"Jack stood up to try to calm Sean down, and I was trying to talk some sense into him... he was so angry that he was nearly foaming at the mouth. Ohh, he wasn't a pretty sight on a good day..." Janie said, as Elizabeth and William leaned forward a bit, excitement in their eyes.

William smiled a little and said, half jokingly, "And did my cousin attempt to parlay?"

"I didn't have a chance to, William," Jack sighed,"... ol' Sean always thought he was th' biggest fish in a tiny little pond... thought he was a third of th' age that he was... he pulled a butcher knife an' went for me skinny little throat... I fought back..."

Silence fell for a moment... and Janie said, quietly, "... it was self-defense... Jack was was armed only with a small dagger, and he tried to get the knife away from Sean... the struggle lasted for several minutes, as Sean was very strong, but Jack was young and quick.'

'... I was scared to death, and had grabbed an oar to try to take Sean down, but Sean fell forward in the sand while they were struggling, and his own knife plunged into his belly all the way to the handle... suddenly,"Janie breathed, "... I was a widow, and I was _free_..." Janie closed her eyes and breathed, "... I was free... ohhh, _freedom_... Sean O'Hennessey was dead by his own hand, in our eyes, and I was _free_..." Janie's jaw was clenched, and Jack was squeezing her hand.

Pausing for only a heartbeat, Janie continued, "... not a soul in the village questioned what had happened to Sean O'Hennessey, he was hated that much... My father came back from his business trip to find his moneylender gone, and the report came from County Clare that he had been killed when a rooming house he was staying in on a business trip had burned down... it was reported that his body had been burned beyond recognition and he was indentified by his cuffbuttons...

"...No one had seen Sean upon that night, as he had been hiding in the shadows, spying on Jack and me, and he had stolen a rowboat, himself, to row out to the island... so there were no witnesses... Everyone trusted Father Gerald, and he was the one who said that the priest in County Clare had sent a messenger to the newly widowed Mrs. O'Hennessey," Janie sniffed indifferently. "Jack paid Father Gerald in Spanish silver for that one..." She nudged Jack conspiratorially.

Jack chuckled, "Father Gerald merely crossed 'imself, said that he would have to hear 'is own confession, then accepted me silver an' lied like a bloody dog to th' entire village..."

The Turners nodded with pride, as Janie pushed a curl out of her eyes, looked at Jack, and said, "... we rowed out as far as we could, and sank his body to the depths of the Atlantic with a boulder lashed to him...then we burned the rowboat that he had stolen on the sandy beach... it burned all night... it kept us warm in more ways than one..."

Jack turned his face toward the flaming fireplace, once again, and muttered, "...we sent 'im t' th' bottom o' th' sea wif th' knife still stickin' in 'is gut, and that was too damned good for him, Janie..."

Janie winked at the Turners, as she leaned toward the captain and whispered, "... because of it, I learned to use the dagger that is so primly tucked under me skirts to this day... the dagger that you taught me to use..."

To everyone's surprise, Jack was in no mood to make light, and he continued as though he had not heard, "...for all of the horror and pain that he caused you, as your husband, he died _much _too quickly... he should have suffered like he made you suffer..." Jack's eyes grew distant, as his hand wound around Janie's like a vine, his voice lowered to a soft growl..." and for all of the pain and suffering that Thomas O'Madain caused, his turn was next...and his demise was not nearly as quick..." William and Elizabeth gripped each other's hands, with Elizabeth's eyes deep with sympathy and William's eyes hard with hate, as Jack and Janie pulled each other close...

This was the story that the Turners had wanted to hear... and that two of Magdalena Sparrow's loved ones wanted to tell, but not without bracing themselves with some fresh air and something strong to drink...

To be continued...


	19. The Dutiful Daughter

۞

As Jack went to the cellar to fetch a bottle of rum, Janie heated water for more of her special-whiskey laden tea... she brought the teapot in from the kitchen with her skirts as a potholder, and then, much to the Turners' surprise, came around the back of the couch and silently embraced William from behind, then Elizabeth, kissing them each lightly on the cheek.

She came around and poured tea, her long braid falling forward over her shoulder... speaking in a low tone, she said to her astonished companions, "... ye're wondering what that was for..."

Pouring a small amount of the whiskey into each cup, and adding a scant spoonful of sugar to each, she swallowed hard and said, "... that was for looking after my Jack. I know that the three of you had some serious differences of opinion, and that scamp can truly inspire that sort of thing... but thankfully we all have grown up, Jack included...he could not make it alone... thank ye for loving my Jack..." her strong voice began to fail her for a moment, and she swallowed hard once again.

Janie paused, then looked up at the Turners with tear filled eyes... "I thought for a time that Jack was never coming back... and I made a promise to his father years ago that would not have been broken, but hearts would have been broken in its place ... you see, Jonathan Teague and I kept in touch every year. I think that the messages in the bottles are helped along in a way I dare not question, as we exchanged letters very quickly between Ireland and Shipwreck Island... I do not know how, but there are things at sea that are not to be denied...' Janie looked at William for a long moment, and he nodded slightly.

'... I wrote to Teague each time Jack would visit, to tell him how Jack was faring... and Teague would write back to me... Jack thought that his father was ignoring him all of this time, but his father was simply loving him from afar... and trying to take care of him in ways that Jack did not know about... not that I thought that it was right, but loving Jack is like loving the ocean winds and the sea tides... he is here, then gone, and then back, again... Jack always thought that his father had abandoned Maggie and himself, but it wasn't so in the true sense of abandonment... Jack and Teague never had an argument, but Jack was clearly fearful of him... Teague is a hard man to get to know, and the two of them are like the sun and the moon... both lovely, but so different from each other... like the sun and the moon, they could compliment each other... "

William interrupted, "... but did Jack tell you that he and his father are reconciling? We met with him in Greece, and he told Jack about what had happened... that Maggie left him, not the other way around, and that he admitted that it was wrong to leave Jack on his own for all of those years..."

Janie dashed away the tears that were beginning to fall. "Yes, Jack told me that he got word through your father on the Flying Dutchman that Teague wanted to meet with him, William... you should have seen the smile on his face... "

"Aye, Janie, my own father kept contact with Teague after we parlayed the Pearl back from Captain Barbossa... Captain Teague made the connection that he was my father's older half brother only after we had already left Madagascar... Teague knew that we are related before Jack and I did..." William smiled.

'...He was waiting for the right time to tell us, but we were rather busy trying to restore my heart and reunite me with my bride," William squeezed Elizabeth to him, as she looked at him with glowing eyes, "...Calypso beat them to telling us! She also sent word to my father and to Teague to confirm our family ties, so we all know, now...needless to say, Bootstrap Bill Turner is very pleased that his old friend is his half nephew..."

Janie's hands were shaking a little, and she swallowed hard, again. "...Ye have no idea what a relief it is... I am so glad that Jack knows that his father loves him. I am so glad that Jack knows that he has family, and has told them the truth about himself... it can only help him with his..." Janie took a deep breath, and said, "...instability..."

Janie looked up and straight into the young couple's faces, and said, "... the other night, after the two of you retired for the night, he and I talked for hours... saints above, he loves the two of you so much, and to know that his father accepts and loves him after all of these years, well, he is the happiest that he has ever been in his life... to know that he has his cousin William, Izzy, his uncle Bootstrap Bill, and his father, when for years he thought that he only had me... he couldn't stop smiling... "

"You mentioned a promise... what promise did you make to Captain Teague, Janie?" Elizabeth asked, as Janie composed herself and handed cups of steaming hot tea to her young friends.'

Janie looked over her shoulder and wiped her face dry of any evidence of tears, saying, "Jack is coming up the stairs... let us just say that I made a very simple promise to Captain Teague that stands to this day...and it involves the gold that was hidden... the gold that was meant for Maggie and Jack..."

The trio fell silent, as Jack strutted back into the room, a new bottle of rum in his hand. He had been talking to himself all the way up from the cellar, and as he plopped back down onto the couch and popped the cork on one of the dusty bottles, Janie sipped her whiskey laced tea, and closed her eyes to begin...

۞

_Sean O'Hennessey's financial holdings were not large... he held only a house that was paid for and a few small properties that Janie, as his only legal heir as his surviving spouse, inherited. Janie had no desire to own property... it would only put her in the same category as her hated father. She immediately sold the small properties at a loss to the farmers who rented the land, so that they would have their own farms and she would be rid of the title of "landlady"._

_She found that she had a good head for money, even though she had very little of it to manage... it was then that she realized that she might take in boarders to the small house on the cobblestone village street, and she studiously expanded her skills at cooking... the seed of which was planted by Maggie Sparrow in teaching a little girl to prepare simple fare for good, hearty Irish meals. And Janie found that she loved it..._

_Her father, of course, was mortified that his daughter, the Widow O'Hennessey, the former Mary Jane Ó Madáin would lower herself to running a common boarding house for sailors, travelers and other riffraff... it never entered his prideful mind that Sean O'Hennessey would leave his wife nearly penniless, but Thomas had no idea that Sean had sent all of his money to his mistress in County Clare for safekeeping - and she kept it and left for France with her teenaged daughter, a daughter that was Sean's own bastard child... Janie never told her father, as it was none of his damned business... it only fueled her hate even more, as Sean's illigitimate child was an accepted member of the community in their village, yet her Jack was reviled because of his dark skinned heritage from his parents. Janie could almost feel herself become nauseous with rage when she thought of it._

_She also kept her financial status a secret from Jack... she did not want him to feel that he needed to provide more for her, as he was already providing so much... he was providing her with love, with tender hands and a caring heart, whether he was in County Galway or in the faroff Caribbean, she was in his heart... he would always come to see her, bearing gifts to make her happy... little trinkets for her mantel, pieces of yard goods for a new dress from an exotic marketplace... his favorite gift was always lovely milled soaps or a bottle of spicy fragrance for her hair, especially from the Orient... he loved to bury his nose in her auburn curls. He would take her away to these places in her mind as he told so many stories of his adventures... she had found her own form of freedom, but his tales of sailing were fascinating and of course, most times, embellished a bit._

_What she did not like was how he came back to her with scars... a new one every time, it seemed... He would laugh them off with a flourish of his beautiful, delicate hands, but at night, in bed, she would trace her fingers over them and feel that Jack was still being treated very roughly by the world. He would only smile, and tell her yet another tall tale of this scar and that tattoo..._

_He would not ask questions of her finances, but would always give her any coins that he had before he left, always trying his meager best to make certain that her pantry had the essentials to provide for her boarders... nothing fancy, but they would always come back from the marketplace in An Clochán with plenty of flour, meal, barley and some good spices... with a wink, Jack would always remind her that he likes spicy things, and she would just shake her head at him and tell him to drink spiced rum..._

_It became easier each time that he left, as she now knew that he would always be back... she did not mind that Jack visited the ladies of the evening in other ports, as it was good enough for her that he only saw her when he was in Ireland. He was actually completely honest with her about the wenches, and she did not feel hurt or angry in any way... they did not own each other, were not married, and prostitution was as legal as drinking in a tavern, or any other activity that men called sporting... it was not exclusive to men, either, as women would partake in the same activities, Janie reasoned, so she saw nothing wrong with it... it was obvious in his dark eyes every time that he went back to sea that Jack loved her with all of his heart.. it was just left unspoken between them, almost for fear that saying it would ruin it... it was the only thing that either of them really had to soothe the pain of loneliness... knowing that wherever they were, they always had each other, and would always be there..._

_Jack Sparrow was a well kept secret from Thomas Ó Madáin... if he did not pay any attention to his daughter as she was living in his home, he paid even less attention to her as she lived in the village, only to express his opinion that he thought that is was shameful to their family name that she kept a boardinghouse, but he mistakenly got the impression that her silences to him represented a respect of his opinion... Janie suddenly saw this as an advantage against him... it was suddenly very clear to her that perhaps... just perhaps... it might profit her, and the ones that she did love... if she could ingratiate herself to her father just enough to gain entrance to the mansion for an occasional visit..._

_Scornfully, she thought to herself, that Thomas would think that she was being a dutiful daughter to come out to the estate to check up on her father, whose health was now beginning to fail some..._

_It was during one of these visits out to the now decaying and ill kept mansion that Janie heard from one of the neighbors a fearful rumor that yet another fever epidemic was spreading outward from Dublin... a fever that was especially virilant, but one that Janie had already suffered from as a child and was in no danger from... but her father had not been exposed since he was, of course, out of town when Janie had been ill... and he one who would suffer a great deal should he contract the illness... It was said that this fever was worse than the one that had swept through the county ten years before..._

_Thomas Ó Madáin felt that it was Janie's given duty to look after him in his old age... little did he know that she would certainly look after him, but not in a way that he expected... that plans were afoot to pay him back for causing three lives to be filled with unspeakable pain ... Janie's... Jack's...and Captain Edward Jonathan Teague's..._

_To be continued..._


	20. Revenge

_**Author's note:** Here is is, mates... I could not stand to not post it...the chapter that many have been waiting for... and there will be much more to come, as we have not heard the last of the horrible thing called slavery, nor of the wonderful thing that is a gypsy pirate captain... enjoy... Pirate Cat_

۞

_The illness was upon Thomas __Ó Madáin__, and had been for several days... he was taken to his bed with chills... he could not eat, he could no longer go into the village. He was only able to drink the herbal tea that his daughter dutifully brought to him, he assumed to keep his strength up. Mary Jane had not spoken to him much in years, and he was not certain why except for maybe marrying her off to O'Hennessey... she seemed to have changed long before that, on the night that he had burned the Sparrow whore's cottage down and swept her bastard son off to the slave market. The county was well rid of the gypsy scum, but even then, he had not been able to sell his lands off at enough profit to cover his debts. _

_The mansion was only furnished in his bedroom, his library and the formal parlor, now, not that he received guests. He was a hated, reviled man, and Janie had been made privy to more and more atrocities that this man had committed ... he had evicted those who had defaulted upon their rent in the dead of winter, he had sent families to the workhouses... and had committed murder... Janie suspected that he had killed in cold blood more than once, from the whisperings in the county. Her father was a depraved, dispicable monster... _

_The physician had been attending him during the ten days that he had taken ill... but today he did not come... Thomas was in agony, weak and unable to rise from his bed... it was twilight, and the physician did not come. _

_He was still able to issue a commanding voice, however, and as his daughter silently came into his room bearing a cup of steaming herbal tea, he growled, "Where is the doctor? He should have been here to attend me hours ago, Mary Jane! Why have you not gone to bring him here..."_

_Janie merely raised his head and put the cup to his lips... it was too hot, and he grimaced as he sputtered, hatefully, "Dammit, girl, you may be able to feed and water those animals that you call boarders with this swill, but not your own father! Send for the physician immediately..."_

_The room was dark except for the one lantern burning on the table next to the bed... Janie's face was eerily serene as she finally spoke, "... you were never a father to me, and I am ashamed to be associated with ye... "_

_Thomas' eyes were suddenly and inexplicably growing dim, but were wide with fury... "I don't give a damn! Get the doctor!"_

_Janie leaned in and stared at him with cold blue eyes. "He isn't coming..."_

_"What???"_

_  
"The doctor... is ... not... coming..." Janie repeated slowly... "He refused."_

_Thomas sputtered, and fought back the urge to vomit, "Refused? How can he refuse me???"_

_Janie's voice became hard as steel, as she leaned forward more and hissed through clenched teeth, "He can refuse because he admitted to me that ye paid him off to let Magdalena Sparrow die, and he is ashamed! I told him not to come... and he agreed without being paid off! He succumbed to your dirty money years ago and has since been living with the guilt!"_

_"That's absurd!"_

_Janie's hands drew up into fists, and she could not hold back any longer... "Absurd? ABSURD? How dare you, you hypocrite! I heard it with my own ears on the night that ye were talking to your financial advisor! Ye paid the doctor off, and ye delivered Jack Sparrow into slavery with your own hands, even wishing that he was a girl so ye could make more money!" Janie's voice was rising, "... ye murdered the only mother figure that I ever knew, and sent my best, dearest and most loving friend into what should have been his death! Not only that, I was there the night that you burned the Sparrows' cottage down! I was THERE!"_

_"You are mad, daughter!"_

_"I am not mad, nor am I your daughter! I have refused to even call ye 'sir' for eleven years! I have not called ye by any name, except what was in my angry, smothering soul! Ye said upon that night that I overheard ye that ye wished that had no 'brat' of your own, and ye sold your own 'brat' into a marriage to pay your debts! You could not have cared less about me, or Jack, or Maggie!" Janie's voice was like jagged pieces of ice... cold... cutting... _

_"Those gypsies corrupted you against me, Mary Jane!" Thomas was now beginning to gag, the room was getting hot, and he was seeing stars in his vision, but his fury was taking over and his voice was still raging._

_Janie's nostrils were flaring, and her face was flushed, but her voice now was reduced to a deadly whisper, "... I could have died at the hands of that monstrous rapist, Sean O'Hennessey, but ye didn't care... ye were rid of me, and your debt to him. I was not corrupted by Maggie and Jack... YOU were corrupted by GREED. You killed Maggie... and Jack might have died!"_

_"Might have? That pirate bastard is long dead... I made sure that he was sold to the slaver captain with the worst reputation..." There was suddenly a cold silence in the darkened room, and Thomas finally began to wretch, as he realized what he had just said... _

_The bile was choking up into his throat, he struggled to breath and his vision was growing dark... his chest felt like it was going to collapse in on itself, when another face materialized in the dark next to the cold, furious face of Janie O'Madden... a dark, slight young man, with wild black hair adorned with odd beads, dark skin and strange, gleaming inky eyes under a red gypsy bandana..._

_"Who the hell are you???" Thomas choked, as his hands clawed at his throat._

_The face of the stranger only smiled with grim pleasure, as his head oddly tilted from one side to the other... a strangely familiar face... as the man gently put an arm around the young woman whose body was calm, but whose eyes were bright with hate, the stranger said in a deep, slurred voice, "I am th' one tha' is 'long dead', you son-of-a-bitch... you killed my mother...an' ye scarred me for life... an' now it's your turn..."_

_"MARY JANE!" was the only thing that Thomas could choke out, his body beginning to go into horrid, twisting convulsions... the room was beginning to spin, and the heat was becoming unbearable... _

_Suddenly, another face appeared... or so Thomas thought... he could not tell, as he was slowly choking upon his own stomach fluids as they were spewing forth, the room was now going all around his vision in waves, and his heart was pounding erratically, smothering his lungs against it, as his hands clawed his neck and chest bloody. _

_Another face! A craggy face under a broad brimmed hat, surrounded by long black braids with strange cross shaped trinkets tied into them... and hard, glinting black eyes that were burning like smoldering, angry coals. This one said nothing... but stared like he was a vengeful dark angel of death... his face was contorted by pure hate, for before him was the man who took the woman who would have been his wife and nearly killed his helpless, beautiful child and the lovely, sweet girl who had befriended them. _

_"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU??? GET OUT!" Thomas was screaming as his lungs began to feel as though they are collapsing... his hands waved before his own failing eyes, and he screamed in horror... they looked like the claws of a skeleton..._

_Janie murmered to Thomas, in a strangely kind tone,"... I have learned many things in my life, Thomas __Ó Madáin, including the use of herbs and plants... plants like hemlock... ye never had the fever... ye have been drinking tea made of hemlock from the marketplace of Singapore... thanks to Captain Teague... we waited until there was a fever outbreak to make your demise less obvious, and the physician in the village is certainly not familiar with hemlock..." _

_"...I promised that this one would pay, Janie... I promised you and Jack... and Maggie... " said the deep, resonating voice of the one that Thomas thought resembled Satan, now..._

_"I'M GOING TO HELL!" Thomas cried out... "I'm going to hell...!" _

_The young one... the gypsy bastard, Jack Sparrow... had the lantern in his hand... slowly, he was removing the shade and holding it next to the heavy, dusty velvet draperies at the dark window... "... Aye, ye scum... Mary Jane __Ó Madáin also died the night that my mother was murdered by you... you murdered her as well, and Janie O'Madden was born! You are going to hell, Thomas Ó Madáin... you ARE going to hell..." and the flame began licking the draperies, creeping up slowly, and spreading across the valance..._

_As the darkness took over his vision and the poison hemlock closed down his lungs, the last thing that Thomas __Ó Madáin heard was Janie O'Madden's voice saying, "... ye can lay here and wonder if the hemlock will kill ye first... or the flames... and it is all too good for ye, ye hateful, murderous, cold bastard!"_

_... and he was surrounded by crackling flames, and by the echoing, ghostly, eerie sound of a terrified little boy's voice ringing in his ears... __"__**Go hifreann leat! JANIE!!!"**__... and the final, horrible, furious, wild, unearthly screaming of a vengeful __beann sí..._

_To be continued..._


	21. A Break in the Dark Weather

۞

Janie sat and wrung her hands, wondering what her new friends might think of her, now. The silence was broken only by the crackling of the fire in the fireplace. She was almost afraid to look up, and it was Jack who spoke up...

"... we watched the mansion burn t' th' ground from th' forest at th' edge o' th' lawn, me, Janie an' my father. As th' roof finally caved in, I turned t' say somethin' t' Teague, an' he was bloody gone, like a ghost..." Jack smiled slighty, as he continued, inspecting his fingernails with a look of detachment, ".. I was disappointed that he left so soon, at first, but th' next day, Janie an' I heard that th' slave auction office in An Clochán also burned t' th' ground that night. Who might have had a hand in that, I wonder..."

Idly playing with one of Janie's errant curls, the captain slurred, husky voice said, "... the O'Madain mansion was nothin' but smokin' rubble th' next mornin', and it was called 'an act of God'... "

The smile faded from his face, as he reached up and stroked Janie's cheek with one finger... the captain murmered, "... I hope that my mama was watching tha' night, love... I hope tha' she was watchin', an' dancin' wif her tambourine... It was _satisfying_..."

Janie remained silent, her eyes turning up to look deeply into the loving, kohl lined eyes that were gazing at her with such affection... she looked back down at her wringing hands, once again.

Finally, William slid over on the couch and put an arm around her, gently looking at her, and saying, "... It's alright, Janie... the right thing was done... you stopped his insanity, and saved many from his cruelty..."

Elizabeth got up from her place, and sat down on the trunk in front of the others, taking up Janie's hands in hers, and making her look up at her... with a fierceness in her voice, Elizabeth said, "... Will is right. You did the right thing by doing in that terrible man. When someone causes so much pain for power and money..." Suddenly her eyes widened, and she whispered, "... when someone causes so much pain for power and money..."

Taking a deep breath, Elizabeth squeezed Janie's hands, and said, with venom, ".. The same thing happened to us, Janie."

Elizabeth exchanged glances with William and Jack, whose visages were showing intense pride. "_We_ were the victims of one who caused so much pain for power and gain... and we killed that person for the common good..."

Janie closed her eyes, and murmered, "... so ye don't think of me as a murderess?"

William hugged Janie across her shoulders, "Never."

Jack leaned in, and tickled her on her cheek with his mustache, staring at her cross-eyed... Janie finally giggled, muttering, "... stop it, ye wild hooligan..."

She squeezed Elizabeth's hands back, William leaned in and whispered, with a wink and smile, "we would never think of anyone as courageous as you as a murderess, Janie... we think of you as a ... _pirate_!"

Janie and Jack beamed at each other with happiness... it was a heady, good feeling to not be judged... in any way...

۞

The rain had stopped and the clouds were scudding across the sky... the stormy weather had been apparently causing high seas at the opening of the cove in the distance, as the cove, itself was rippling with small waves, and the Black Pearl was drifting about in the water, gently going to and fro.

"William, wot say we take advantage o' th' break in th' dark weather an' row out t' see if any rats swam out an' took up residence in th' hold?"

"I agree, Jack... the water has been calm and might have invited some little visitors aboard th' Pearl...we can't have them rolling a bloody game of dice in th' rum cellar, can we?"

Janie and Elizabeth, arm in arm, followed the two men as they walked down the dock. They all needed some fresh air after the hours of storytelling, and Janie had not set foot upon the Pearl in a very long time... since before the last visit that ended in the terrible quarrel that caused her and Jack so much heartache.

"Look at them... " Elizabeth said, nodding her head at the pair in front of them, "... to think that they are cousins... one would never know at first glance!"

Janie laughed, "... True enough... they don't look a thing alike except for the backs of their jawlines..."

Elizabeth stopped in her tracks and looked hard at her companion. "What?"

Janie stared back, and said, "... have ye not noticed that they both have identical jawlines back here?" She ran a finger along her own jawline, under her ear. "I'm surprised that ye didn't see that when you were caring for Jack a few weeks back when he was so sick!"

Elizabeth sighed, and watched the backs of William and Jack... William's strong broad shoulders and his long, curly brown hair, the long tails of his blue bandana blowing in the small breeze... and the back of the slender captain, his narrow shoulders nearly covered with his thick, unruly, wonderfully trinketed braids, the faded red tails of his bandana also fluttering along behind him.

"In all honesty, Janie, we were so worried about Jack's health that I did not notice that he might have the same jaw as Will, although I saw all of his scars and tattoos... he was so sick, and in so much pain... he is just getting over the bad concussion that he suffered when the mizzenmast collapsed on him. You can still see a bit of the black eye on the right..."

Suddenly giggling, Elizabeth leaned toward Janie as they resumed walking and whispered, wickedly, ".. I keep teasing poor Jack about seeing him naked when he was sick! We had to remove his bloody clothing and bathe him while he was unconscious. He still can't get over that I was the one that stitched his head up, and helped to bathe him!"

Changing the tone of her voice some, she said, "... it was not a joking matter at the time, as he was hurt so badly, and vomiting up so much blood and seawater that we were scared out of our wits, but he says, now, that since I saw him naked, I owe him a peek..."

Janie snorted indelicately, and said, "... hmph... ye owe him nothing of the sort, darlin'. Naked or no, the two of ye saved his life again... and again... and again..."

Watching the pair that was finally bobbling around down in the long boat, waiting for them, Elizabeth smiled broadly at Jack, and thought that it was amazing how much they all owed each other... Jack wondered, however, exactly why Janie was looking him up and down as if undressing him with her eyes, and snickering as she did so. He frowned at her.

Suddenly, much to Jack's astonishment, Elizabeth pushed back his extraordinary hair, and stared at his jawline... and then stared at William's, much to his surprise. Sitting down next to Janie, she said, "You're right!"

Janie smoothed down her hair, and replied simply, "...Told ye so..."

William and Jack looked at them, looked at each other, and shrugged. Jack kept a suspicious eye upon Elizabeth, and a hand firmly gripping his hair, as they rowed out to the waiting Pearl.

۞

William and Jack made an extensive inspection of the Black Pearl, as Janie and Elizabeth walked along the decks, admiring the ship that Jack loved so dearly. "She is a beauty, I can not argue that," Janie said, as she ran her hand along the railing lovingly, exactly like Jack always did... looking up at the primly furled sails, tied up properly as if it was a fine lady's coiffure, Janie whispered, "... how have ye been, me darlin'? Has Jack and his lovely family been taking good care of ye?"

Elizabeth felt a warmth come over her as she watched one of Jack's loves quietly conversing with the other... the timbers of the dark ship creaked softly as if in answer to Janie's soft words... "Ahhhh, ye are lovely... I'm sorry that I insulted ye when ye were here the last time... I know how much Jack loves ye... but I love Jack, too... "

Momentarily oblivious to her surroundings, Janie wound an arm around part of the bottom of the main mast, and softly said, "... I know that you are part and parcel of my darlin' Jack's soul, milady... I hope that ye can spare a bit of his heart for me..."

Turning suddenly, Janie said, brightly,"... and where is your cabin, Izzy? I want to see your room!"

Elizabeth proudly opened the door to the cabin that she and William shared. "This is our cabin... it's small, but very comfortable. It's just right for us..."

"... and a baby?" Janie said, mischieviously, as Elizabeth shyly ran a hand over her stomach and blushed slightly.

"... maybe..."

"... we need to be making a trip back out to the gypsy camp in the next day or so, Izzy! I, for one, can't stand the suspense!" Janie sat down upon the Turners' bunk, only to say, "Oh!" and push the thin pallet that was used as a mattress with her displeased fingertips and an incredulous look upon her face.

"What's wrong?" Elizabeth turned from rearranging some things upon a little shelf where she kept what few pretty things she had... Mr. Gibbs had built if for them when they moved onto the ship after William's living heart was restored in Jack's cabin across the main deck. The little shelf had a nice edge around it so things might be displayed without falling off of it while the Pearl was out at sea.

"How can you and your handsome young man sleep on this hard bunk? That skinflint captain of yours has nice bedding, whilst the two of ye sleep on this thing? Saints preserve us, ye might as well be sleeping on the deckboards!"

Elizabeth started to say that they had not taken the time to get anything better since Jack had been so sick, but Janie stood up and put her hands upon Elizabeth's shoulders as if an argument had been settled.

"I shall see that the two of ye have a nice feather mattress for your bunk! We'll make sure that we row out with one to replace this sorry thing! This one should have been pitched overboard far out at sea! Imagine! Conceiving a child on _that _thing!" Janie shook her head in amazement, and muttered, "Jack Sparrow, how do ye expect to let these young ones expand our family..."

Elizabeth took Janie's arm and turned her. "Janie, you said 'our family'..."

Janie smiled, and replied, "... and I meant it, darlin'... I meant it..."

As the two women finally went back out onto the main deck, they looked curiously at William and Jack, whose heads were together in observing something that Jack seemed to be holding in his hand... turning to look at the two ladies, they both shrugged innocently, as Jack quietly and expertly slipped something into his vest pocket...

_To be continued..._

۞


	22. Watchful Eyes

۞

The night was a peaceful one at the inn... Elizabeth was sitting at at dressing table, brushing out her hair, as William had already fallen asleep in unbelievable softness of the feather bed... imagine Jack's reaction, she thought, when he finds out that Janie was going to make certain that the Turners would have a feather mattress for their bunk... she chuckled a bit...

She thought over the things that Jack and Janie had revealed to them these last days... horrible things, yet wonderful things... horrible in the way that life should treat human beings so terribly, physically and mentally... but wonderful in that Jack and Janie had each other, even when Jack was taken down by the Kraken thinking that he had no one left in the world...

Was it any wonder that Jack had the troubles, mentally, that he did? she pondered. At least, for the most part, he was very endearingly and pleasantly addled, but there were the times, such as when he'd had the nightmares, when William and Elizabeth were truly frightened for him... the last nightmare was especially bad, she shuddered... and she hoped that coming to terms with the past by telling the truth about things to the Turners would help Jack... Janie had thought that it would.

Whether it did or not, Elizabeth swore to herself, she and Will would look after Jack, no matter what. He was the reason that they were all here, living and breathing, together. Even in his worst state, they would always look after him... not only for themselves, but for their new friend, Janie, who loved him so much.

Elizabeth wondered if they had professed any kind of feelings of love to each other... certainly, the night had been very short for both of them since they had retired very late, and then Jack's nightmare set the tone for a good part of the day... it was only until they had rowed out to check upon the Black Pearl that the sadness truly began to lift like the mist off of the cove.

She thought of what Will had confessed to her one night as he held her in his strong, tanned arms... she was listening to his heart beating, as she did every night, even when it was locked up tightly in the Dead Man's Chest... Will had told her that he wanted to say "I love you!" to her so many times, but it was finally prodding from a scrawny madman in long, dark braids that pushed him to it, and Will had finally professed his love to her when the same madman was about to be hanged... and then there was yet more prodding from an even madder madman that urged him to make things right when they had such strains in their relationship... Elizabeth could only think that that same wonderful madman might need a great deal of prodding, himself, to say three little words, other than "drinks all around", "really bad eggs", and "hide the rum".

Snuffing out the small lantern, she went over and sat upon the windowsill next to the little potted shamrock, looking out into the comforting darkness for a moment... oh, the cool air smelled so fresh and wonderful... she could hear the waterfall, far back in the woods, and she wondered what it looked like... perhaps upon another visit, when the weather was warm... spring, maybe?

Placing her hand over her stomach, she looked over at the bare skin of her husband's chest as he slumbered... a chest with a huge, jagged healed scar over it like a lightning bolt... then up at his lovely, handsome young face, illuminated by the light of the moon ... and she hoped with all of her own heart that what she suspected of herself was true... and that a visit to Ireland in the spring would bring on a very different appearance for Elizabeth Swann Turner...

۞

Janie laid in the darkness and listened to Jack's soft snoring... he was much more tired than he had let on, and Janie had rolled over, opened her blue eyes, and was studying him in the light of the moon...

He was truly beautiful, his dark face taking on a luminescence in the soft light. She lightly traced her finger over his bare chest as he breathed, and thought back to when they were just small children, and how he looked then... almost feminine in his delicate appearance; he looked that way, now. His face was softened so much in sleeping, and the kohl did not even make his eyes look intense and older when his face was relaxed in a way such as this.

It was high time that he could rest, she thought... what little remained of his carefully crafted facade of the great Captain Jack Sparrow had shamefully crumbled into dust all around him on this day, in front of William and Elizabeth... but he had then realized that the facade did not matter to them one whit. They knew him through and through, unbeknownst to him, and it was a great relief to know that he no longer had to hide from them what had caused him the deepest of shame. He had admitted the truth to them, and they had told him that he was still the great Captain Jack Sparrow. Her finger moved from his chest to trace his lips... and she finally leaned in and kissed him, ever so softly, so as not to wake him. He'd had a very, very hard day.

The captain stirred only slightly, then opened his brown eyes to sleepily look at her... he smiled slowly, as she wordlessly gazed into his shining eyes. Taking a slow, deep breath, he draped an arm over her and pulled her snugly into his chest, nestling her cheek against his bare shoulder... she could see the two silver hoops that pierced his left ear glittering in the moonlight. They both sighed contentedly...

As he settled back into sleep, they _both_ knew that they had done the right thing by telling the truth upon this day... and they felt as though they had both been reborn, in a way... the only way that might describe how they both felt as they laid in each other's arms in the moonlight was that they were both very much loved... they did not need or want marriage, but they loved and needed each other deeply, as much as they both realized how much they both loved and needed the young couple in the honeymoon room... and they knew that their own love would always be fought for and guarded by the first mate and his wife as fiercely as the captain and the innkeeper would always fight, in turn, for them...

... now if they could only work up the courage to tell _each other _how they felt... in real words... and not just tender kisses ...

۞

The following day dawned bright and clear, with a chill in the air... Janie and Elizabeth were up and out of bed early, with Elizabeth taking great delight in helping Janie prepare breakfast. Elizabeth had been the one to prepare the bread dough the night before, and Janie had supervised the final shaping of the loaf and the proper baking time. Elizabeth was quite pleased with herself when the loaf emerged from the oven golden brown, and smelling delicious.

"Izzy! You made th' bread?" Jack leaned forward and looked at the warm slices of bread, as William dove in, spreading butter thickly on his slice and relishing it with closed eyes and a smile.

Elizabeth chirped, "Yes, I made the bread! I never learned anything about cooking while growing up. I think that it might be good to at least know how to make bread, just in case... ", she shrugged.

Janie took a slice of the bread and spread it with the last of the wild plum jam, then offered it to Jack, who had tucked a napkin under his chin in anticipation. William was already eating his second slice, thinking that they might have to talk to the milkmaid about more butter... it was a rare treat, and he and Jack were truly enjoying it with all of their meals by hoarding it among themselves.

Janie put an arm around Elizabeth and said, ".. I came from a financially affluent background such as yours, Izzy... I knew nothing about cooking or baking until I was taught how to make the simplest and tastiest of fare by Maggie Sparrow... "

"Then I should be very proud to have that knowledge handed down to me... knowledge handed down from family member to family member... down to Maggie's half nephew's wife..."

Jack and William stopped chewing and looked up at the two women for a moment. It sank in with both of them the truth of the statement... and Jack was quite touched by it. He looked at Elizabeth, and smiled, "... that was a kind thing t' say, Izzy... gypsies have very few things t' hand down except for tradition, such as baking a loaf of bread..."

Janie gave a very proud Elizabeth a small hug and proclaimed, "Then this is our tradition, darlin'... whenever we are together, we shall bake bread! The very first thing that Maggie ever taught me to bake, at the tender age of six!"

William got up from his chair with his slice of bread, lathered in butter... Elizabeth had been a young woman who had a priviliged background just like Janie; Elizabeth, who had inspired an armada into battle... was now glad to know how to bake a loaf of bread, 'just in case'.

As William placed an arm around Elizabeth's tiny waist, he offered her a bite of the fresh, warm bread, and leaned in to whisper in her ear, "... I like our new family tradition... and I think that my Aunt Maggie would be just as proud... "

Jack was taking all of this in, and the thought of William calling Jack's long dead mother "Aunt Maggie" raised a bit of a lump in his throat... trying to clear it out, he said, "Well, I'm good wif it, too... think of it, mates... my mama only had me, an' look at all o' th' ones tha' she's touched, as it were... now, if th' whelp would stop hoggin' th' butter..."

Looking around, he smiled brightly and said to the other three, "Can ye teach Izzy t' make more wild plum jam?" Frowning at the crock that was now in his own wavering hand, he muttered, "Someone ate it all..."

۞

It was such a lovely, clear November morning that the foursome decided to take in the natural beauty of County Galway by walking over to the Kerrigan family camp for a visit... the thick forest was a glorious mix of green and golds, autumn foliage abounded. The rains of the day before had washed everything in sight with a bath of clarity, and the sound of the waterfall was even louder... the stream that fed it was, no doubt, fed well, itself, by the rain. It was agreed that they would visit the waterfall when the weather was warmer... plans were already afoot for a return trip to Eire in the spring.

William, in particular, was quite taken by the rugged homeland of his cousin's side of the family. He was taking everything in, from Janie's talk of the local economy and how it impacted the inn, to the natural beauty of the coastline as they sailed in... it was as if his own Irish blood passed down to him by Evangeline Teague Turner was now coarsing through his veins by a true Irish heart. He had never felt a kinship to his home in England after his mother died, like he felt in Ireland. His own father, Bootstrap Bill, was born in Scotland, and as pirates they sailed under no nation's flag. William felt the wildness of this land grow close to his heart... he felt at home, here.

Jack, on the way to the Kerrigan's camp, was leading the way, with Janie on his arm, his hat perched upon his head crookedly, braids swinging at his back, and his husky voice giving Gaelic lessons.

"Izzy, repeat after me... 'Go n-ithe an cat thú, is go n-ithe an diabhal an cat!'"

"What? That's too long, Jack! I can't say that!"

Looking over his shoulder at her, he said, "Try it... 'Go n-ithe an cat thú'..."

Elizabeth tried to repeat it, and her tongue tripped over it so badly that she frowned and said, "I can't say that, Captain Sparrow!"

"What does it mean, Jack? I think that I have a rough idea..." William asked, as Janie shook her head at Jack in exasperation.

"It means 'May th' cat eat ye, an' may th' devil eat th' cat'! Although it wouldn't be Clancy the cat... I likes him..." Janie took a cue from Elizabeth and hit Jack in the arm with her fist... hard.

The gypsies greeted the group wholeheartedly, as they had were now taking up Janie's offer to winter over in the glen and were making preparations for staying. Lines for drying clean clothing were being strung, many barrels were being placed for catching rainwater, small fences were being laid out to corral the colourful horses that drew the caravans, and the group noticed that many there were now stacks of peat being gathered for their cooking fires. They were, indeed, making ready for staying close to the inn. Janie was delighted.

"Ah! Captain Jack, Captain Will!" Molly Kerrigan approached them with great enthusiasm and open arms... Jack and William braced themselves. As they partook in Molly's enthusiastic greeting, Jack asked, "An' where is Padraig on this fine mornin'?"

"Padraig, and our sons, Alexander, Paddy, Jasper, Timothy and Andrew all went hunting this morning." Molly's dark face broke into a wide smile, as she bade them all to sit down by the caravan. Surprisingly, she offered everyone mugs of wine... a rarity to an English palate at such an early hour, but a normality to anyone else, especially in Jack's opinion. He was utterly shocked when Molly came to him with a bottle of ... rum.

"Molly, you're a diamond, lassie!" he exclaimed, and Molly retorted, "You're a sailor, and a pirate, Captain Sparrow! You are the most famous gypsy in Ireland, and Padraig was thoroughly ashamed that we did not have rum to offer to ye when ye were here."

"Ye didn't know we were comin'... "

"That's no excuse."

Jack and William looked at each other, shrugged, then popped the cork.

As Jack, Janie and William conversed with other members of the tribe who came by to offer their greetings, Elizabeth stole off with Molly into the largest caravan, and unknown to the others... the caravan of the tribe's midwife...

Jack, William, Elizabeth and Janie stayed all day, as the extended Kerrigan clan delighted in showing them the skills that they employed in order to make money or to trade for necessities... all of the women could cook, care for children, and sew, but a few of them could make lace... something that was so very dear to Jack's heart.

He watched in silence as Bridget, Padraig's and Molly's daughter-in-law, explained the intricacies of weaving the bobbins back and forth, up and down, in intricate patterns of flowers and birds... Jack's eyes followed closely, and his thoughts drifted back in time... fingering the ragged bit of lace upon his wrist, he remembered watching the same wooden bobbins in his mother's hands, making even more skilled patterns than these being demonstrated.

Shaking himself from his thoughts, he was made aware that he was being watched by a pair of curious dark eyes peeking out from behind Bridget... a pair of gorgeous little eyes framed by black curls under a little girl's lace cap. Looking down at her small daughter, Bridget said, "Betsy! Don't stare at Captain Jack like that! And Allan! Come out from there!"

William merrily scooped up chubby little Allan from behind the caravan, and exclaimed, "Whoa, mate! We were not properly introduced the other day... I am Captain Will Turner!"

Allan let forth with peals of giggles as William determined that he was ticklish... the little boy piped up, "Captain Will, Mama Molly tells me that you can fight like no one else with a sword! Can you show me?"

William looked over at Jack, who was delicately shaking hands with tiny Betsy, who had offered her own hand politely at being introduced as Padraig's and Molly's granddaughter... what a beauty she was, the captain was thinking, as the child curtsied... was it any wonder that gypsy girls were abducted so much, he thought darkly.

Tipping his hat to an extremely impressed and charmed little girl, Jack said with great ceremony, "Pardon me, milady... my cousin wishes fer me t' demonstrate th' fine art o' swordfighting ... if you will excuse me... " Betsy looked on with a blushing face filled with what was becoming a rather large crush on this most famous of gypsies, especially since he had those wonderful gold teeth...

The clatter of swords brought some of the women, including Janie and Elizabeth, out of the largest caravan in great haste... it was a sound that they were not expecting to hear, but smiles broke out and an excited crowd gathered to watch the artistry of William Turner the Second as he demonstrated his expertise... Janie and Elizabeth looked on with pride, as their men circled and stepped, with parry and thrust... step to the right... step back... with Jack keeping a running banter going the entire time...

Unbeknownst to all of them, there were other eyes watching them... evil eyes... eyes with a horrible intent and hands that were waiting for an opportune moment, themselves... eyes that were watching little Allan and Betsy very, very closely...

_To be continued..._


	23. The Voice Upon the Wind

۞

It had been a very enjoyable day with the Kerrigan clan at their camp even if Padraig and his sons were not there, and now night was falling over the Ó Madáin Inn once more... supper had been a fine and filling one, as Janie's meals always were...

The moon was just beginning to appear overhead, and William and Jack were sitting at the kitchen table discussing the happenings of the day, waiting to retire to the great room and a warm fire with Elizabeth and Janie, who were finishing with washing up dishes after the evening meal...

Suddenly, without warning,William and Jack inexplicably both turned their heads at the same time... the wind was blowing across the tops of the trees above them... and there was something upon it that was more than just the trees whispering to each other... William looked at Jack, whose hands were now raised slightly, his eyes closed and his head tilted to one side... normally this would be cause for concern, but suddenly it was as if William was aware of something that he had never been aware of, before...

William also tilted his head and listened hard... yes... yes... there _was_ something there. He wordlessly got up from his chair and opened the back door of the inn, the cool wind now blowing into the kitchen, blowing the tails of his blue bandanna back over his shoulder...

"Will?" Elizabeth dried her hands and went to her husband, putting a hand upon his arm and looking worriedly into his face. William merely raised his hand for quietness, as Janie observed the goings-on with a slight frown... Jack's eyes were still closed, and he was sitting stock still, except for a his head slightly moving from one side to the other... his hands raised a bit more.

Finally opening his slightly dazed eyes, the captain looked at the younger man standing in the doorway, and William turned to look at him... he had heard it, also... the sound upon the wind... Jack got up from his chair and walked over to his best friend, and put a hand upon his shoulder as William's face turned back into the darkness, with a very strange expression.

In a soft voice, almost a whisper, the captain patted his young cousin's back just once, and said, "... ye hear her, don't ye..." William nodded, in wonderment.

Elizabeth and Janie looked at each other... this was something that was beyond them... it was only between Jack and William, and they were not saying...

The two men immediately strapped their baldrics back over their shoulders, and William turned to the puzzled women and said, with an urgent tone to his voice, "Elizabeth, my love, change into your shipboard clothes, and strap on your sword..."

Jack only turned to Janie to say something, when she turned upon her heel with Elizabeth, and they both disappeared from the kitchen... they did not question. Jack had always been attuned to things that might be beyond the comprehension of mere mortals and was sometimes accused of madness unjustly because of this, and William was the former immortal captain of the Flying Dutchman... and attuned to things on another level, because of it... it was a mermaid's siren song that would alert him that a message was coming for him to his duties aboard the ghost ship, a mermaid that mere mortals only thought of as a legend of the sea...

William knew better. There were mermaids... there was a ghost ship called the Flying Dutchman... the beings such as sea goddesses, banshees and leprechauns did exist... even though he was mortal, William had never told anyone just how attuned to the other world he still was, and there were those who reached out and spoke to only those that they chose to... was someone reaching out to him, now, that had never reached out to him before?

As the women left the room, William looked hard at Jack, who had said nothing as he, too, was now staring out into the darkness... Jack did not move his eyes, eyes that were now soft with emotion... but the captain now said, quietly, "... ye heard her, William."

William nodded slowly and starting to smile... "I heard her voice, Jack... and she said to take up our swords... we are needed, cousin..."

Just then, the sound of far off hooves could be heard coming through the forest...

۞

Padraig Kerrigan was standing in the light of the doorway, his face dark with worry and his hands holding the reins of four gypsy horses, with blankets strapped to their backs, and eagerness in their bright eyes. Elizabeth and Janie came back into the kitchen, and through the open door they saw the dark faces of Padraig's sons, all resembling their father, as they milled about in the clearing in front of the inn on more of the colourful animals that were nervously moving around, the long hair upon their fetlocks fluttering in the wind, unable to keep still, even with a tight rein.

"... they went missing at dusk... it's not like Allan t' just wander off into the woods; he and Betsy both know better... they may have just strayed a bit too far and gotten lost, but they didn't come when the women called them for supper. We started combing the area around the camp, but they weren't t' be found... there is more strength in numbers if ye would join us in our search... we brought horses for all of ye..."

Jack nodded to Padraig and patted his shoulder, "... no worries, mate... Captain Jack Sparrow an' his crew is at your service... we will start back at the area around th' camp an' fan our way outward... we'll find 'em in short order, I guarantee it!" Jack's confidence brought some relief to the men's eyes... the man was the picture of self assuredness, as his first mate looked on with equal confidence...

Padraig swung himself up onto the back of his horse with extraordinary grace for a man of his age and girth... he nodded his thanks. As the Kerrigans turned and spurred the spirited horses into the darkness, Jack turned to his companions and then stood in utter surprise, his eyebrows shooting straight up.

"Janie!"

This was another side of the usually tidy Janie O'Madden that the captain had grown unused to seeing... she was wearing a pair of Jack's breeches... which actually fit her better than they fit him... and a dark shirt, with a beat up pair of leather boots.

Her thick hair was loose, and flowing down her back, her loose curls almost giving her a wild look. In her hands was a very old, but very colorful red bandanna. She hurriedly tied the bandanna around her auburn hair, and muttered, "What are ye gaping at, Jack? My cutlass might be old, but it's sharp... I may not be able to handle it like yerself, young William and Izzy, here, but I _can _handle it. Ye taught me yerself, and I have practiced... "

Jack found his tongue after a moment, and said, with a wicked grin, "Janie, love, I wasn't starin' at just th' cutlass, I was starin' at th' entire lovely picture... an' me eyes like wot they're beholdin'... a wild Irish rose!" He pulled her forward as her hands still worked at the bandanna, and kissed her hard. She leaned back and uttered something to him in chuckling Gaelic... William snickered, as it was a word that Jack had not taught him, yet.

As Janie finished knotting the bandanna, Jack took one of the trailing tails of his own and ripped a strip off of the edge, loudly... handing it to Elizabeth, he said, "Here Izzy... we are needed for more than a search, methinks. We are in for a fight out there in th' darkness tonight... "

Elizabeth took the fabric strip from him, not quite understanding his reason for this odd action. Seeing this, the captain leaned to look her squarely in the eye, and said, a hard glitter in his own, "Tie it to your hat, love, you are representin' more than th' Brethren on this night..."

A light flickering in her eyes as she now understood, Elizabeth tied the strip of the red bandanna to her own worn tricorn tightly, and the ends of it streamed down her back... pulling her hat down hard upon her head, William gazed at her as she strapped her own sword on with swift resolve... she may be in plain breeches and a cotton shirt, but he never failed to marvel at how she wonderful his wife looked when wearing her battered tricorn hat with her golden hair flying loosely around her shoulders... his own wild rose.

Looking up at Jack, who was now regarding his Janie with unabashed pride as she was making ready to join in the search, and do battle if necessary, Elizabeth said, "... we had the feeling that there might be more than just missing children at hand, Jack... we could feel it when you and Will were listening to the wind outside. Something is very wrong out there, isn't it?"

Jack looked uncomfortable for a moment as he glanced out into the windy darkness, and William glanced at him with knowing eyes. The captain put his own hat upon his head, and stood up straight, "Mates... we must not let Padraig and his family down... there are two missing wee ones out there in the dark... it shall be Captain Jack Sparrow an' his crew to th' rescue!"

And with that statement, Jack proudly opened the door and they all went out to the impatient horses that were tied to the front step railing in the darkness... the captain took his compass into his hands, and as the others easily pulled themselves up onto the waiting animals' backs, he hoped that it did not show too blatantly to William and the women that he had only ridden a horse twice in his entire life...and both times he had fallen off...

۞

In the moonlight, Jack led the way as the horses quietly padded through the woods, on the moss carpeted ground... his eyes had always had an uncanny ability to see in the dark, and he kept consulting his compass as they rode in silence... William was riding next to Jack, keeping his own eyes trained into the surrounding woods, watching... watching...

Janie and Elizabeth rode behind them, watching behind them, and into the darkness to their sides... they rode this way for more than two hours, as they would stop occasionally for Jack and William to study the compass, observe the terrain around them, and decide the best way to move forward, always in barely audible whispers... it was not unlike planning a raid as pirates, through narrow island channels or unfriendly waters...

Jack, at least, was becoming accustomed rather naturally to the rolling motion of the back of the horse... in fact, he thought, it was not bad at all, much like the motion of his beloved sea... Elizabeth caught Janie watching Jack in the moonlight from behind, his hips swiveling with the movement of the horse's walk, much like they naturally swiveled when he was upon the deck boards of the Pearl, or simply walked his uneven water like walk...

The sound of an owl could be heard above their heads, as it called very softly for its mate, then took wing and quietly flew deeper into the woods... suddenly, the breeze began to rustle through the trees, and Janie and Elizabeth both jumped slightly as William's and Jack's heads both snapped up and listened... the wind... the wind... Jack's eyes closed... so did William's...

Several more minutes passed... then, the captain and his first mate opened their eyes, and nodded to each other... and to the wind...

... and they looked back to the women and nodded up over a massive outcropping of stone ahead of them... Jack put his finger to his lips for quiet, and they urged their horses forward into the darkness... just past the outcropping, there seemed to be a ravine, and the overhanging tree branches were dancing with the light of a very small campfire... there was the quiet sound of voices in a language that was foreign... and the occasional oath hissing at the sound of a tearful child...

... and as they all dismounted and silently climbed up the rocky hill for a closer view, Jack and William whispered to each other in angry Gaelic... at the top of the outcropping, they crawled upon their hands and knees, and laid down to remain out of sight... Peering down into the ravine and taking in what was happening in front of them, Janie put an arm around her Jackie's slender waist, strongly embracing him... ... they all knew, then, that in wearing the the simple cotton bandannas in red or in faded blue, they were hoisting colours of a different kind... they were defiantly hoisting the colours of their family... the Family Teague...

And Elizabeth, William and Janie all reached around and softly patted Jack's back in loyalty and support, as his face settled into a look of cold, hateful, bitter, utter contempt at what his glittering, inky black eyes were beholding...

۞


	24. Swords in the Moonlight

۞

The sight that met their eyes was one that angered them all... there was a small campfire in the center of the ravine, and there were five men gathered around it, drinking from amber bottles and talking in rough tones among themselves... they were a ragtag group, dirtier than even most pirates. There were the bones of the last meal in a pile next to the campfire, and empty bottles were scattered about, much like the bones were.

There were hammocks strung among the trees closest to the fire, and a small cart was at the far end of the camp... a small cart meant to be drawn by a small donkey, which was free grazing nearby... a cart with a very roughly built wooden cage onto the back, fashioned mostly of discarded barn and stable boards... and locked inside of this small, rough gaol upon wheels were the terrified Betsy and a defiant Allen. Betsy was clinging to Allen, and she had been weeping so hard that she was shaking with hiccuping sobs... both sets of dark eyes were staring at the men around the campfire, perhaps wishing for some warmth or something to eat, but the five that were passing around bottles were not providing either warmth or food.

Jack, William, Elizabeth and Janie huddled down beneath the edge of the ravine. Jack spoke first. "They're not professionals..." he growled, "... they are more'n likely sailors that were thrown off o' their ship or stayed too long in a pub an' were left behind... kidnapping and selling th' victims is a lesser form of practicing slavery and quick money, but th' end result is th' same... ."

William added, "They're Portuguese..."

Jack swiveled his head around and stared, "How did you know that?"

"We ferried sailors of all nations on the Dutchman, Jack... I picked up bits and pieces of several languages... I don't know much Portuguese, but I know enough to recognize it..."

Jack blinked hard at his young cousin, and then muttered, "... I knew that..."

"Could you tell anything that they were saying, Will?" Elizabeth was fighting down anger at the sight that they beheld... these two precious, beautiful children being held in a tiny cart with no blanket on what was promising to be a cold night... already they were able to see their own breath. Janie was huddled close to a sullen Jack, her arm around him and rubbing his back in the velvety darkness that was all around them... they were all truly beginning to understand his pain...

William crawled back up to the edge and listened hard. His expression became one of anger as he rejoined the others in the shadows..."... they are just talking about the slave market in Dublin, and that the girl, especially, should fetch a shiny penny..."

Janie's closed her eyes and fought down the utter rage that was bubbling up inside of her..."..._he would have been worth a lot more if he had been a girl... girls go for more money on the slave market... they can be bred to make more slaves... boys are not worth spit...he was such a skinny little thing with all of that curly black hair, that I thought he was a girl at first... too bad for me, I would have made more money at the slave market when I turned him over..." _Her father's words boiled up in her mind... words that had been said about her Jackie, and words that now came back to make her blood colour her cheeks crimson, almost thirty years later...

"Dublin???" Jack's eyes popped. "They plan to haul them all th' way t' Dublin? They'd have t' travel by night and hide during th' day..."

William turned to Jack and said, "I doubt that they speak English or Gaelic, so we won't be able to parlay. It looks like we will have to do a bit of sneaking about."

As the moon spilled over the treetops and down onto the foursome huddled in the mossy outcropping of rocks, they made their plan as the horses patiently waited, as still as if they, too, were listening to the plan...

۞

Allan and little Betsy were huddling together to attempt to stay warm, as the damp air became filled with a heavy mist from the dark forest all around them... Allan was well learned in the ways of the woods, and it seemed that the mist was the thickest that he had ever seen, almost unearthly. Betsy was sensing this, and was becoming more and more nervous as time went on, her luminous brown eyes looking all around them as if she expected something to reach out of the trees and snatch the whole cart away...

Something out of the corner of his eye made Allan turn slightly and stare into the bushes... he thought that he had seen a shadow that did not belong there, and it was only a moment later that he quickly clapped his hand over Betsy's startled mouth to keep her from screaming... his own heart jumped in his chest, until he was able to make out the forms of two women... two women that he recognized. With their fingers to their lips, Elizabeth and Janie emerged from the mist, swords in hand and a small slender object in Elizabeth's hand... the reindeer shinbone that usually adorned Jack's braided head. Janie held the reins to their two horses, and Betsy's eyes lit up when she recognized the two that pulled her own parents' caravan.

Silently, they waited in the undergrowth... waited... waited...

Then, there was a snap of a twig in the forest beyond the ravine on the other side. The five men at the campfire immediately straightened up in alarm, talking among themselves in voices slurred from too much cheap, and probably stolen, whiskey. Standing up, they all unsheathed the battered swords that were at their sides, and warily looked out into the darkness... another twig snapped further over to one side, and as three of the men went toward the first sound, the other two made a few steps toward the other direction.

Quickly, Elizabeth stepped up to the back of the cart and furiously began working at picking the rusty lock that held the rickety cage door closed... Janie kept an eye on the slavers, as yet another sound came through the mist... a small pebble bouncing off of the rock embankment, as if it had been thrown from yet another direction... the wind was picking up, and the trees began to rustle above the edge of the ravine...

Elizabeth kept working at the lock, as quietly as she could, with the long reindeer bone, her tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth, much like Jack's would. Janie was nodding to the two children in a reassuring manner, as her sword was raised in her right hand.

Suddenly, the lock popped open with a loud "snap", and the five men quickly turned to see the startled eyes of two women, and as Elizabeth jerked the door of the cage open, the five slavers howled in fury and came at them with swords raised high.

"GO WITH IZZY!!! NOW!!!" Janie screamed, as Elizabeth pulled herself quickly onto the waiting back of a pawing, wild eyed gypsy horse, reaching down to grab the two little ones as they scrambled desperately for her hands... Janie pushed them up in front of Elizabeth as the horse was backing away, trying to take off into the woods...

And as the two women tried to get the children securely onto the prancing little stallion, their eyes went wide as two horses came careening down into the ravine, manes and tails flying in the mist, ridden by two figures that looked like as if they were the very banshees that were said to haunt the hills and glens of County Galway... the ragtag slavers suddenly turned in terror, as the pair bore down upon them on wild steeds, swords flashing in the moonlight and the horses' hooves kicking up flames and sparks as they ran straight through the campfire...

۞

William was amazed at what he saw next to him... Jack Sparrow was bearing down upon the campsite with his sword above his head and a wild, mad gleam in his eyes, his hair flying behind him and howling like the very devil, himself... he looked every inch the gypsy pirate captain that he was, body moving in perfect unison with the wild black horse that was under him...

As the five men turned to do battle with the avenging horsemen that had ascended upon them, Elizabeth finally was able to secure the two children on the horse in front of her, Allan instinctively grabbing the horse's long mane, and Betsy in between them, her arms around Allan, tightly... her little eyes were closed just as tightly, as Janie slapped the horse on the rear end, and it shot through the brush like a rocket... Elizabeth spurred the stallion on through the forest, only momentarily looking over her shoulder at Janie, who was beginning to pull herself up onto her own steed...

The blades were flashing in the moonlight, as William had slid down off of his horse and was taking two of the slavers on at once, the sound of his sword clanging into the night, his dagger in his left hand, holding one of the men off, as the ragged man confusedly acted as if he did not know who to fight first.

"I should let you know, even if you can't understand me, that I cheat!" William swung his sword around with his right hand and caught the man squarely in the side of the head with its flat side, sending him reeling, drunkenly... he made an unfortunate stumble over a pile of firewood while his own sword was flailing in his hand for balance... he looked down in momentary surprise, and then was not aware of any more in this world... as he had impaled himself upon his own sword, in his partially inebriated state. William and Jack both saw this briefly, as Jack shouted, "Poetic justice, ye bastard!"

Jack was still upon his pawing horse, twisting, turning, laughing huskily as he sent one man flying backward with the flying toe of his boot... the black mare that was his ally quickly and fatally raised her hooves as she reared up and, with a sickening thud, nearly sent the slaver's head to County Clare without a body attached to it. He fell lifelessly to the ground... the little mare let out a loud whinny and shook her head, as if she were shouting for victory.

The other slaver that had taken on the captain was able to grab the mane of the black mare, who indignantly reared up and tossed her head, with Jack hanging on, gleefully smacking the idiot in the hands with the handle of his pistol with a loud crack, and a yell of, "Oi! MY HORSE!!!"

The rather rotund man howled in pain as his hands were quite obviously broken, and he took off at a full run, into the woods... he would rather take on the Irish spirits of the forests than a mad pirate with a wild black horse.

William was clearly gaining the advantage upon his opponent as he was backing him further and further to the far edge of the ravine, as it fell off sharply... William's arm flailed wildly as the slaver's eyes were growing wider and wider with fear as the determined young pirate's eyes filled with harder and hotter fury, his jaw clenched and his teeth bared... it was as if he was fighting for more than just the two gypsy captives, and the slaver did not have time to decide just what was in this wild young man's hate filled eyes as he backed him further and further with each swift stroke of his weapon...

All that William was seeing was hate... bigotry... pain... blood... injustice... the suffering of innocent children like his cousin had been, and the murder of a beautiful young woman that would have been his aunt... William Turner the Second valued his loved ones above all else, and he would be damned if he would stand any... more... suffering...

And it was with that last word in his mind that he drove his opponent back just one more step... over the ravine's rocky far edge... and into eternity...

۞

Janie was just throwing her leg up over the back of her horse to take off into the woods, when someone grabbed her other leg and pulled her off roughly... she landed hard upon the grassy earth as her horse spooked and ran off into the mists without her... rolling quickly to her right, she narrowly avoided being beheaded by the sword of a sneering, filthy toothless man who then grabbed her by her hair...

Howling indignantly, she swung her left fist with all of her might, and met only air. She finally was able to get her feet under her, and she swung the sword that was still miraculously in her right hand, she freed herself from her assailant's grip by whacking off a long lock of her own auburn hair.

William just had time to turn from the far side of the ravine, when he saw a sight that horrified him... the fifth man, who had held back from any of the fighting after he had lost his weapon in the brush had hauled Janie off of her steed, and had now been able to get his hands upon Jack's leg as his horse circled around... he was a strong one, and slender Jack was no match for him, as he was dragged off of his horse's back and onto the ground, losing his sword from his hand, and howling his dreadlocked head off as he rolled across the moss.

It was then that Jack tried to scramble up, just in time to see this last slaver grab a large piece of firewood, and with all of his might, he swung at the auburn haired woman who was ready to strike with her cutlass to defend Jack... and with a resounding crack and a wail of pain as the club took her down, Janie O'Madden whirled around with the momentum and strength of the hit and crumpled to a lifeless heap upon the damp ground...

Jack hesitated for only a moment, with the look of utter horror upon his dark face that William had seen only once before, when he, himself, had just experienced the most searing pain of his life as Davy Jones ran him through... Jack's face had that same look of horror, then of anguish as he made it to his feet... "_Janie!!!!__ Ní raibh! NO!!!" _

William hesitated, feeling a fury like he had never felt before at what he beheld... and as he saw the same filthy bastard that had felled Janie pull a pistol out of his coat and aim, William screamed, "JACK!!! LOOK OUT!!!"

Jack turned with wide eyes, and fell flat to the ground, again, as a sword split the air over his head like a bolt of polished lightning, and with a sickening "thunk" and the humming vibration of the hilt, it stuck itself straight into the trunk of a tree, but not before it went right through the neck of the one that was about to shoot Jack in the back...

William strode up and grabbed the hilt of the vibrating sword, as it slapped itself into his palm... putting a foot against the slaver's chest and pulling it out with a swift jerk, he let the man drop to the ground... looking scornfully at the dead man's open eyes, he spat in Gaelic, "THAT... was for my family."

And he then turned quickly, and ran to the side of his cousin, the great Captain Jack Sparrow, who had gathered his love into his arms, tears welling up in his eyes...

_To be continued..._


	25. Trust the Irish Wind

۞

Elizabeth's horse was galloping through the forest, careening through the trees... she was hanging on with all of the strength that she could muster, with no saddle or stirrups to put her feet into; she had never even ridden a horse astride... only sidesaddle... and she thought, with contempt, how useless that would be, now. The wind was becoming stronger, and she was glad that she had pushed her tricorn down upon her head as firmly as she had, as it was protecting her from the branches that were flying past her head.

They finally pulled up to a stop to let the horse catch its breath, and Elizabeth looked behind them... there was no sound of hoofbeats, nor any sign of anyone else in the blackness... Elizabeth's heart began to pound hard... where was Janie? Were Will and Jack alright? Her Will... her brave, brave Will...

Looking around and hugging herself protectively down over Betsy, Elizabeth's eyes searched everywhere. "Where are we?" she wondered out loud, as Allan also was looking around. Turning around slightly, he looked up at her and said, surprisingly, "... I think that I know where we are..."

She stared down at the chubby, round face of the boy, and sputtered, "What??? How do you know..." she started, but she was interrupted by Allan's explanation.

"I tried to stay calm and watch the stars and the land as we were being taken away in the cart... I listened for water to hear if we were close to the coast, and tried to smell for peat smoke in case we might be near a farm or a cottage... I think that our camp is that way, from the way that the moon is in the sky..."

Elizabeth was not so sure, but the seriousness in the child's voice was reassuring. He turned to look at her, again, his dark eyes solemn and his hands still gripping the long, silky mane of the stallion that was regaining its wind. "... it might take us a while, but I am sure that we will find home if we keep going that way... we traveled all over County Galway before we came to our new winter home... I think we should head that direction..." he pointed ahead of them...

Wee Betsy had finally found her voice, and had stopped hiccuping with sobs... she was somehow more confident with being upon the back of a familiar horse, Elizabeth reasoned, and she also turned to look up at Elizabeth with her luminious dark eyes... "Mrs. Captain Will, we shall be alright, now! Allan will find our camp! He is very good at finding things... and Captain Jack and Captain Will and Mrs. Captain Jack will find it, too, you'll see!"

Elizabeth bit her lip hard at this beautiful child's faith in the unknown, and her innocent names for all of them... Mrs. Captain Will and Mrs. Captain Jack... Betsy had the longest eyelashes that Elizabeth had ever seen... and little Allan's eyes sparked with an intelligence beyond his young years... Elizabeth could not begin to imagine these two children in the bonds of slavery...

As she admired the beauty of the two in her charge, she thought of Jack... when she and Will were caring for him during his illness, they saw how he looked without all of the trappings of a pirate captain... they saw the man under all of it... and her stomach nearly turned as she thought of the lovely little boy he must have been... and the abuse that had been thrust upon him, like it was nearly thrust upon these two.

She urged the gypsy horse under them onward through the moonlight, more slowly, now... and she kept looking over her shoulder, wondering where the others were... and worrying...

۞

William gently reached his hand over to feel for a pulse in Janie's neck, as Jack held her tightly, hot tears tracing down his face, saying nothing and rocking her back and forth... Jack pulled her away from William protectively, as William stopped his reach. Jack was not himself... if only for a few minutes...

"Jack... it's William, your cousin... please... let me check Janie, mate..." William said, quietly, as he placed one hand on his best friend's bony shoulder, as the captain kept rocking...

"... I let her down again, William..."

"No, you didn't, Jack..."

Jack's voice was hoarse with emotion, "... I let that bloody O'Hennessey take her... I let her get raped... I didn't help her... I love her so much, and I let her down... and now..."

A low moan came from the bundle of auburn hair in Jack's arms, as William gently reached over, again...

Jack's eyes popped open in shock, glazed and confused, as William laid a hand on Janie's neck... she moaned, again, and Jack suddenly came to life, his trembling arms loosening around his love, as William smiled, "Her pulse is fast, but strong! Come on, Janie, darling, breathe a bit better for us... " William gently patted Janie's pale freckled cheek, and Jack stared down at her face... she was struggling to open her eyes...

"Janie? Janie? Bugger! You're alive! You clever girl! Ye're not dead! Ohhhh!" Jack started to wipe away the tears streaming down his dark face, his hands shaking so badly that he nearly dropped Janie back to the mossy ground, as she moved her head a little...

"Ohhhhh..." Janie finally took in a deeper breath, as her hand weakly came up and dropped onto Jack's arm.

Jack began to rock her again. "Janie! Can ye hear me? Wake up, love... speak t' me..." William kept patting her cheek gently, as Janie kept trying to open her eyes... finally, she was able to crack open one of them and she tried to see in the darkness...

"... Jack?"

"Aye, love! It's me! The one that loves ye, an' causes way too much trouble..."

William leaned in closer and said, quietly, "It's William, Janie... can you hear me?"

Janie finally opened both eyes and uncrossed them, looking up at both of the faces above her, trying to smile..."Did ye kill the son-of-a-bitch that damn near broke every bloody rib that I have?"

Jack smiled, shakily, "Aye, lass, an' ye missed it all... William threw a bloody sword through his neck an' pinned 'im to a tree... William's good at that sort o' thing, as he saved me from hangin' that way, once... we did 'em all in except for one tha' I busted th' hell outta his hands an' he scampered off t' wake up th' leprechauns..."

"Janie, can you feel your arms and legs? Where does it hurt?" William was checking her appendages for injury, as she moved her hand up to the captain's emotional face... she brushed a tear from his nose, and said in a trembling voice, "... I'm alright, William... help me sit up..."

"Wot???" Jack's eyes were as round as plates as William also looked at Janie in shock.

Janie began to try to sit up slowly, as she muttered, "He caught me in the ribs under my arm... I'm alright... I need to sit up or I'll be sick...where's Izzy?... where are the children?"

"They got away... " William answered, as he and Jack gently helped Janie to sit up, as her head weakly leaned forward against Jack's shoulder... she patted William's hand, reassuringly...

Jack lovingly and delicately picked leaves from her hair, as she whispered, "... what did ye say a moment ago, Jack?"

"... ye missed William throwing a sword through th'..."

"No... before that..."

William's eyes began to glow, as Jack gently put his arms around Janie, holding her against him, as she fought dizziness and the sharp pain in her ribs... Jack wiped the back of his hand against his eyes, swallowed hard, and finally replied, "... I said tha' I'm th' one that loves ye, and causes way too much trouble... I couldn't ever protect ye, Janie... I couldn't ever protect ye... "

Janie said nothing for a moment, as her arms slowly wrapped around him... "... I love you, too, Jack Sparrow... I love you...an' I don't know what your babbling about... you've saved me in more ways than ye'll ever know, ye scamp... ye protected my soul... ye protected my heart..." Jack's slender hands gently drew circles on Janie's back as they rested against each other...

William smiled as he watched them... one man who had tried to be an island to himself, hiding his feelings for others inside for fear of rejection and shame, and one woman who would not let him be an island, because she knew, along with William and Elizabeth, that he was so worthwhile ... he was finally showing the other side of the island, because they had all learned to be patient with him, his mysterious past, and his odd, odd ways...

Silence fell over the trio as they quietly regathered their strength... the wind was picking up... rustling the tree limbs and gathering clouds above them... the moon was beginning to disappear, and they knew that they needed to find the gypsy camp while they still could...

Just then, the spirited little black mare stepped forward into the moonlight, nickering softly and nudging William with her soft muzzle... they all laughed, quietly, as it seemed as though she thought she was being left out...

۞

Elizabeth was utterly amazed... before them, in the glen, was the camp of the Kerrigan clan... the campfire in the middle of the camp was burning brightly, as were many torches and lanterns hanging outside of each caravan... some of the men had returned to the camp for water and food to tuck into their shirts as they continued their search, and to see if anyone had heard any news the missing children.

Allan placed two fingers in his mouth, and just as Jack had several days before, whistled long and low... the gathering in the glen all looked up, and Alexander Kerrigan peered into the dark toward Elizabeth and the children, his wife Bridget at his side... her face was haggard with worry over her little Betsy, and Betsy could not contain herself any longer...

"MAMA!!!" she cried out, and Bridget screamed, "BETSY!!!"

By now, Molly Kerrigan had come out of her caravan, her purple shawl pulled around her in the night air. Elizabeth urged the spotted stallion down the hillside, and Molly's eyes widened, "ALLAN!"

She flew as fast as her feet would carry her, arms out wide ... Allan slid down the side of the horse, happily into his adoptive mother's ample arms... one of the men of the tribe fired a shot into the air to signal all who could hear in the woods that the children had been found and were safe...

Alexander Kerrigan broke away from his weeping wife and wee daughter, to take the reins from Elizabeth's tired hands, and help her down from the horse that had faithfully brought them all to the safety of the gypsy camp... "Have ye seen your own family, Miss Elizabeth? There has been no sign of any of them!"

Elizabeth fearfully looked back out into the misty darkness, and said, ominously, "I was just going to ask you, that, Alexander... the children were taken by a renegade band of slavers..." a dark murmur broke out among those gathered around her, "... Janie and I were able to get the children up on to my horse, and I got away with them, but the others..." her voice caught and she began to feel very tired... Will... Jack and Janie...

Molly and young Allan came up to her and gratefully embraced her. Elizabeth managed a smile and smoothed down Allan's tousled black hair, as she listened to the once dreadfully frightened Betsy now chattering like a magpie about her heroes...

Molly put her own shawl around Elizabeth's exhausted shoulders, and urged her toward hers and Padraig's caravan, and said, "I have some hot tea inside, dear... you need to rest... thank ye for bringing our little ones home... not everyone would do that for gypsies... " They paused and looked back into the thick forest, and Molly hugged Elizabeth around her waist and, pulling the shawl around her tightly, said mysteriously,"... the wind will guide them home... you'll see... trust the Irish wind..."

_To be continued..._

۞_  
_


	26. A Black Horse in the Darkness

۞

Janie was gaining some strength as she sat upon the ground in Jack's arms... William had found Jack's sword and Janie's smaller cutlass and was looking up at the sky as the ominous clouds were gathering... they all knew that they needed to be getting on their way, as there was still a slaver alive out in these woods, and even with broken hands he could be dangerous and a threat to them. William was concerned about Elizabeth and the children, although he had learned to have complete faith in the abilities of his wife to take care of herself, especially since he knew that she was an experienced rider.

Jack was caressing Janie's cheek as she was taking deeper breaths to test her ribs... she winced a little, then finally stated, "I don't think that any are broken... I believe that I might have just been clobbered well enough to knock the wind out of me...oooh, faith an' begorrah, I do believe that I will be bruised badly by morning."

She moved to get her feet under her, when Jack said, "No, no... not so fast... gradually... remember, I've had a lot o' practice at this, love... people love t' knock the bejesus outta me all o' th' time... William used an oar on me one time... "

He got to his knees, and made her lean back against him for a few moments longer before he finally got up... he stood in his usual swaying fashion, and in a matter of moments, Janie was also upon her own feet. She closed her eyes, took a large breath, put a hand to her badly bruised ribs and declared, "I'm fit to ride...", but not before the captain carefully picked another leaf out of her hair.

William had the horse by her reins, and said, "Our little mare is the only horse that we have, it seems... mine has also run off, so all three of us will have to ride together." He patted the black mare's side and said, "It's a good thing that this fine girl has a good strong back, although... " he glanced at Jack, and smiled, "... Jack is so scrawny that she will barely notice him riding in the back."

Jack rolled his eyes, his lower lip protruding in a pout at William's constant joking about his thin frame,"... for the last time, whelp, I know that I am not the most broad an' brawny o' blokes, but I hold me own... I didn't need brawn t' fight Davy Jones on th' highest yardarm o' th' Dutchman, now, did I?" He drew himself up to his full height - which was still shorter than William and barely taller than Janie - and stated, "It takes stamina an' strength... an' I have those by th' boatfull..."

William ignored him, much to Jack's chagrin, and said to Janie, as the moonlight began to fail, "Do you think that you can ride in between Jack and I, Janie? You can lean against my back if you need to, and Jack will hold on to my belt from behind you and keep you from falling..."

"I will be fine, young William, just help me onto the horse! There is no Irish man or woman that ever failed to properly sit a horse, I'll be bound..."

Jack stared at her for a moment... he was Irish, yet his ride into the fray upon this evening had been by necessity... but then, so was finding a way back to the camp, even if he was to sit back upon a bouncing horse's arse... except for having his arms around his lovely Janie, he was not looking forward to this, he grimaced, and wondered while he was keeping his Janie from falling off, what would keep _him_ from falling off...

۞

The trio spurred the mare into the night, and Jack was trying to hang on to William's belt, holding Janie securely. William had Jack's compass in his hand, as Jack apologetically handed it over... much to Janie's delight, the needle only pointed at her, and Jack shrugged as William rolled his eyes... "Sorry, William... I can't help it. I almost lost my lassie back there... can ye blame me? Ah, if I thought that rum was wot I desired th' most... let me try that, perhaps I can fool th' bloody thing..."

But they all knew better, as Jack rested his chin upon Janie's shoulder, and she looked at him out of the corner of her eye. She smiled. He looked rather like a dreadlocked jack o' lantern, with his big round eyes glowing in the half light.

"We traveled at a walk for over two hours... if we picked up the pace, we could make better time and get back to the camp... " and without any more warning than that, William nudged the horse into a trot... and Jack began to bounce terribly! Janie began to laugh, as Jack resisted yelling in her ear at his cousin... and he started to grunt in pain in rhythm to the horse's gait.

The wind was beginning to blow through the forest, and the moon and stars were no longer visible. Janie was watching all around them, as she and Elizabeth had done during the hunt for Allan and Betsy, and William kept studying the compass and urging the horse to trot faster... poor Jack merely hung on with his legs as best as he could, his hands hooked firmly into William's belt, and feeling as if his spine would pop through the top of his skull with each trot.

They went on this way for over an hour, as the wind blew into their faces... a strangely warm wind, steady and true, no matter which adjustment they made to their course... finally pulling the mare to a halt - much to Jack's sore relief - William studied the compass, and then at the obstacle ahead of them.

Turning to his companions, he said, "I don't remember this mountainside, Jack. The compass is pointing straight ahead, but it's impassable... " ...there was a sheer wall of moss covered stone in front of them...

"Th' camp must be on th' other side... " the captain was also staring at the compass, and then at the steep hillside in front of them, frowning.

"We did come around this way," Janie said, glad that they had stopped for a moment... her ribs were hurting terribly... " But I don't remember which way to go..."

It was then that Jack's head suddenly snapped up... his eyes closed, and he took a sharp breath. William turned his face into the wind, also... his own eyes searching, and his ears not quite attuned to a sound... Jack was completely enthralled, turning his head from one side to the other, his mouth open slightly, and one hand letting go of William's belt and being held straight up and with his fingers moving slightly, as if they, too, were trying to hear...

Janie stared at them both, not knowing what was happening... she tried to turn herself upon the horse's blanketed back to look at Jack in concern, but a pain shooting through her side made her gasp a little and turn her attention in front of her to William, whose eyes were now also closed... the warm wind was blowing constantly in their faces, still, and William's long curly hair was blowing back over his shoulders, intermingling with the tails of his blue bandanna...

Just as suddenly, the two cousins opened their eyes and smiled at each other... William nodded to Jack, as the captain grinned and said, "Turn our little black ship three points starboard, First Mate Turner! Take her through the 'channel' in th' the thicket of oak trees, then turn her hard t' port..."

With a quick wink, William said, "Aye, Captain!" and spurred the black mare forward, as Jack leaned forward against Janie, and laid his dark cheek against hers. She turned her head slightly and said, "What was that, Jack?"

He took in a deep breath, and said, "Not now, love... we are bein' guided home by a loving Irish wind... she's bringin' us back t' safety..." and resting his cheek against hers, he fell into silence with his eyes closed, not even feeling the bouncing horse beneath him...

۞

It was now almost midnight, and Elizabeth was worriedly drinking another steaming hot cup of tea in front of Padraig's and Molly's caravan... it was amazingly comfortable by the roaring campfire, and she gratefully had Molly's bright purple shawl wrapped around her. Padraig had now returned with the rest of the search party, and they were also growing concerned, as two of their horses had been found without riders, and brought back to camp... Elizabeth tried not to think that the horses had been ridden by Will and Janie... she tried to converse with the others to occupy her worried mind, when a low whistle came from the darkness... utter silence fell over the camp, and Padraig bellowed, "Who goes there?"

Elizabeth nearly jumped out of her boots as a familiar, slurred, husky voice bellowed back, "Ahoy, mates, it's Captain Jack Sparrow an' wot's left o' his search party, savvy?"

A mighty cheer erupted as the little black mare proudly trotted into the camp, her head tossing and her mane and tail blowing in the night air, now turned chilled with the mist off of the cove beyond the trees... Elizabeth's face burst into a smile, and she ran to her husband's arms as he slid easily off of the horse. "WILL!" She recieved a kiss, as he said, "We knew you could do it, my love! The children?"

"We are all safe!" Elizabeth kissed Will, again, as she turned her face to Janie and Jack... her face clouded and she cried out, "Janie! You're hurt!" Janie was laying back against Jack, her face somewhat pale, but her face smiling... "I'm alright, darlin'... almost got killed back there, but I'm told that your young man did in me erstwhile killer with a well thrown sword!"

William was now carefully helping Janie down from the horse, as Jack's face was a study of concern... the cheering was still ringing in their ears, as Elizabeth placed Molly's shawl around Janie's shoulders and guided her slowly toward Molly, who was shaking her head and shooing both women into hers and Padraig's caravan. "To hell with tea! Hot toddies for everyone... ye need warmin' up!"

William was looking up at Jack, who was still imperiously sitting upon the rear end of the little black mare as if he was unsure of what to do, and the horse was expectantly standing still as if she were waiting for the captain to slide off... which he did... literally. As he swung a skinny leg over and pointed his toes down to slowly and gingerly to attempt to find land again, his rubbery knees finally failed him, and he would have fallen down flat, if William had not quickly put his arm around Jack to keep him from ending up as a rattled, beaded heap upon the ground...

"Ooooh, William," Jack groaned, as he grinned with gritted teeth and false confidence at the Kerrigan clan, who were slapping both of them on the back... "Ooooh, give me a gale an' me Pearl any day! I don't have land legs, an' I sure as hell don't have horsey legs!"

William grunted in pain, and admitted so that only Jack could hear, "... I'm not doing so well, myself... ow... let's try to look heroic, here, Jack..."

And as they shook hands and laughed all around with the celebrating gypsies, William and Jack kept each other upon their feet until they could climb clumsily into the caravan, laughing at their wobbly walk all of the way... they would stay for a while to talk and make sure that everyone was alright, then go back to the welcoming stone walls and warm hearth of the inn, for a well deserved rest... it seemed that they could fight for an inordinate amount of time and with a seemingly endless amount of strength upon wildy rocking ships, but riding horses was not a strong area for either of them... Jack was secretly glad that he did not get thrown...

They only paused for a moment, as they stared out into the deep, dark forest... the wind was tossing the tops of the trees above them, but it was a benevolent wind... a loving wind that had found a way, somehow, on this one night, to guide them back to safety...

Jack swallowed hard, and smiled a little... he felt better, knowing that William had heard her beautiful gypsy voice, and her Irish harp... Jack had only heard her a handful of times and was never certain if it was some of his fleeting madness... and William's eyes grew soft, as he knew that he was very privileged upon this night... looking at each other, the two cousins said nothing... they both needed a drink, as they knew that they might never hear from her, again...

_To be continued... more of Janie's storytelling to follow!_ _Pirate Cat_

۞


	27. Propriety and Deceit

_**Author's note**: A tip of the tricorn and a mug of hot tea laced with good Irish whiskey to "Jennifer Lynn Weston" for her great suggestions for my story! This chapter is dedicated to you, mate! As we toast in Gaelic, "Sláinte! " Pirate Cat_

_PS - we borrowed a line from a classic novel in this chapter... if anyone recognizes our version and where it was borrowed from, Jack will slice a lime for you, and share a mug of virtual rum, while singing an Irish drinking song, off-key!_

۞

The clouds which had gathered to cover the moon and stars the night before promised yet another rainy, misty day over the inn, which was just fine with its occupants. The Atlantic at the far end of the cove was tossing some with the weather... it was November, and the rain was more common upon the western coast of Ireland during this time... but it just made the fireplace in the great room all the more cozy, and the cookfire in the kitchen all the more cheerful.

The saving of the two little gypsy children and the deserved killing of the slavers the night before exhilirated Elizabeth Swann Turner, and she awoke with her head laying upon her husband's chest with a feeling like she had never felt before... the children... it was a truly heady feeling to bring these innocent ones home to their families, being able to snatch them away from the slavers, who would have more than likely sent them to a terrible fate... a fate such as Jack had suffered...

She felt energized... of course, her legs were a bit stiff from being so unused to riding a horse at a full gallop, but they were good strong sea legs and she had never been a simpering, shrinking violet, even in her father's home. She had been raised with propriety, but just like riding sidesaddle, she thought, as she descended the stairs to the great room, it was a useless thing outside of that life that she had been raised in... a life much like Janie O'Madden's, she thought, with a fondness for this woman who was quickly becoming the closest thing to a female best friend that she'd ever known.

Propriety, Elizabeth thought, as she paused on the stairs, her hand upon the polished wood banister. Looking through the great room, and toward the closed bedroom door, she thought of how she should be horrified at the thought of an unmarried couple in bed together, intimately, on the other side of that door. But she nearly snorted with the aburdity of it, much as Janie would. Propriety should dictate that the unmarried couple loved each other deeply... and what was a wedding, she pondered... words said, a kiss... why could not a declaration of love between two people be enough for propriety? She and Will had proclaimed their vows to each other upon the deck of a pirate ship, during a battle and a massive maelstrom, married by a pirate captain. And she certainly felt married, even if society would be scandalized... Well, she shrugged, society and propriety be damned...

She heard soft voices, and a giggle coming from behind that door... silence... then a husky, soft voice singing quietly...

"_... Her eyes, they shone like th' diamonds..._

_... ye'd think she was queen of th' land..._

_... her red hair hung o'er her shoulders, _

_... tied back wif a black velvet band..."_

... then another soft, feminine laugh at the off-key singing... Elizabeth grinned... those two might as well be married, even if they would both be horrified at the idea...

Elizabeth made her way to the kitchen, and started the cookfire... the bread dough had been prepared the evening before, and had been quietly been sitting upon the counter all night, as if none of the excitement had taken place... it was ready to be baked... Elizabeth looked at it with no small amount of pride... she ground fresh coffee and prepared it for brewing over the fire, then braved the cold mist and went out to the springhouse to bring in a small bucket of fresh water, and was surprised to see that the milkmaid had been by, leaving more fresh eggs and a whole crock of butter!

Coming back to the cookfire, Elizabeth hefted the coffeepot onto a hook over the low flame, and turned, looking around and placing her hands upon her hips... she knew that their luncheon was already planned, as Molly and Padraig had made certain that there was a fresh shepherd's pie with marvelous crusts, ready to be baked, when needed, out in the springhouse, as well as a small wheel of cheese... they had personally hitched up their horses to their caravan and brought the Turners, Jack, and Janie home after they had rested at the camp... the Kerrigans had made certain that all were safe and warm in the inn, and had shared their food, including some rather exotic spices, all of which made Elizabeth's mouth water after the riding of the night before.

Elizabeth went over and opened the back door of the inn, wishing to hear the hidden waterfall out in the mossy forest... oh, how she loved the simplicity and beauty of this place... and the secret within her that she was made privy to while waiting at the gypsy camp for her family to return to her...Elizabeth reached into her skirt pocket and brought out the chunk of Connemara marble that Janie had found in the stream, and had given to her for luck. The many shades of green seemed to be smiling back at her...

۞

"Whist! Another cook in my kitchen!" Janie's amused Irish lilt came from the great room, as she and Jack walked slowly... Jack was at her elbow, with one arm around her back, as Janie winced a little, holding her bruised ribs... Elizabeth wondered with amusement if they were walking slowly for Jack's benefit, as he was biting his lower lip and limping very slightly... his eyes sparkled, though, as he caught sight of the Turners in the kitchen... "Ahoy, you galley dogs!"

Elizabeth had just taken the freshly baked loaf of bread out of the brick oven, and William was waiting at the table, with a steaming mug of coffee and the crock of butter right in front of himself. Turning to see Jack and Janie come through the kitchen door, William said, jokingly, "Galley dog, yourself, mate! I never thought I would be so glad to have another rainy morning! I will start a fire in the fireplace after breakfast... the couch calls!"

"Sooo, whelp... are ye sayin' that ye want no part of horses upon this morning?" Jack said, sagely, looking down his nose at his cousin, as Janie went over to fetch the sugar tin... Elizabeth went back to the springhouse to bring in a pitcher of fresh cream, and the eggs.

William sipped his coffee, and answered in an arch manner, "... no... I like the horses, but _they_ need a rest..."

Even Janie stopped to stare at William at this absurd statement. It was then that she started to laugh out loud, and William blushed a little... Jack began to chuckle, as William was sitting upon a pillow.

Turning to his cousin, William said, "And you, Jack... have a seat and a mug of hot _caife_, mate!" Jack stopped chuckling, and his eyes grew wide... he was really hoping that no one noticed that he was not sitting down at all...

Janie took over the preparation of scrambled eggs, as Elizabeth said, "Breakfast is almost ready, Jack... pull up a chair..." to which Jack merely smiled and sipped his coffee, saying, "Oh, I'm fine..." He waved her off with a be-ringed hand, as William was the one to start laughing, now...

He got up from his own chair and slowly walked upstairs... bringing down a handful of pillows, he placed two of them upon one of the heavy kitchen chairs, and swept a hand over them..."There you go, Jack..."

Janie looked up from her eggs to look at the captain, who was sipping his coffee grumpily at William's teasing, not to mention his young first mate's hoarding of the butter crock at his plate... wiping her hands upon her apron, Janie winced a little in pain, then walked over to the captain as his eyes turned to her. Elizabeth paused in slicing the bread, wanting so much to hear the words that William had told her had been uttered in her absence in the darkness of the Irish wilderness...

Janie slowly wrapped her arms around Jack's waist, and laid her head upon his shoulder, with a blissful smile upon her face... "I love you..._Tá grá agam duit _"...

Jack put a finger under her chin and raised her lips to his own coffee flavoured mustache, and he softly whispered, "_Tá grá agam duit_, Janie O'Madden... I was proud o' ye last night... I was proud o' all of us... we stopped those yeasty codpieces from ever preying on innocents, again..." Jack's hand idly dangled the black velvet bow tied at the bottom of the neatly braided hair,

The innkeeper nuzzled the captain's dark cheek, and said, proudly, "... I'm especially proud of ye for forgetting that you're afraid of horses..."

William spewed a shower of crumbs over his place at the table as he started to laugh with a mouthful of bread. Elizabeth stared and began to giggle, "What??? But Jack, you rode so well!" Jack's face reddened a little as he sighed...

Janie hugged Jack, and said, contentedly, "I knew that he'd gotten better with horses! I'm so proud of ye, Jack...It was bound to come to you, bein' at home on a horse. There's _no_ gettin' away from it, if you're Irish!"

۞

The fire in the great room beckoned, and they all gathered upon the familiar old couch, feet propped up on the trunk, fresh mugs of coffee in their hands, and stories upon their minds... William pulled Elizabeth close, and turned his face to Janie, "... you mentioned that you ran a boarding house out of Sean O'Hennessey's house in the village, Janie... when did you acquire the inn, here?"

Janie carefully settled under Jack's welcoming arm, as he carefully settled down upon several pillows, muttering to himself as his eyes squeezed shut for a moment... they all resisted laughing as he pursed his lips and puffed out his cheeks. He swore if William said the word 'scrawny', he would throw one of the pillows at him, cousin or no cousin...

Janie settled her skirt around her, and looked at the captain thoughtfully... he looked back, with a pensive look upon his face, also... this was a part of things that Jack had no idea about, Janie knew...

Janie took a deep breath, and began, "... after my father died, there were his last land holdings to be sold off, and there was a secluded, deserted old house out in the forest... it was upon a small cove just off of the bay, and it needed some work... no one wanted to bother with it_..." _she paused, "... and it was the opinion of those in the county that the lands that were being sold should have been inherited by my father's kin..."

She stretched a little, as Jack smirked... "... well, since a woman can _inherit_ land, but not _purchase_ it, and since my _father_..." she said the word with contempt, ".. did not see fit to leave a will..."

"Imagine that..." Jack muttered into his mug.

Janie nudged him, and then continued, "... since he did not leave a will, I had to find a way to buy this lovely place by way of the sale... I had to come up with a way... and it involved a very subtle bit of deceit..."

As the Turners settled in for another of Janie's stories, the innkeeper and the captain exchanged knowing glances, and the captain said, softly, "... a subtle bit of deceit? I would call it downright piratical of ye... ye lied t' buy this place..."

Janie took a sip of her coffee, deciding that whiskey would be bracing upon this morning, and replied, smugly... "Yes, I lied... and I had help...and it worked..."

_To be continued... _

۞


	28. Shelter for the Night

۞

_The death of Thomas __Ó Madáin __was news in County Galway, to be certain, but not bad news. The only person that anyone in the county felt any sympathetic sentiment toward was the young Widow O'Hennessey, with her own husband dying in a fire in County Clare, and now her father, although neither man was kind to her... this was well known. She had the admiration of the county as a well respected keeper of a boarding house... and from the reports about her excellent cooking, many wished that she would open a pub, instead. _

_Tongues wagged when she dropped her married name and began to call herself Janie O'Madden, but they didn't wag too hard or for too long. She had been abused, all knew that for a fact, and this strong young woman had earned the right to call herself anything that she pleased, especially when Father Gerald always spoke about her with glowing words... Father Gerald was loved and respected, himself, and no one doubted his word. A good man, the priest of Saint Patrick's... a fine man, indeed... _

_The strange thing was that the tongues of the county never wagged once when one of the boarders at Janie's establishment was the dark, scruffy, but extremely handsome young sailor that turned out to be the young seamstress' son... the young gypsy girl, Maggie Sparrow, who had died years ago... the boy had disappeared for some time, but had seemingly reappeared as if he had popped right out of the sea... they did not question...everyone chose to look the other way when the auburn haired young widow would openly walk of an evening upon the arm of the swaggering, swaying young man who was indeed, quite handsome and very likable... it was obvious that they had eyes for each other, and perhaps the girl was due for some happiness... even if he was rather an odd sort... he had a sunny, bright way about him... and because of his nature, it was pretty much overlooked that the boy was half gypsy and considered "coloured"..._

_Thomas __Ó Madáin __was deep in debt at the time of his fiery death... the county residents knew that his mansion had accidently burned to the ground, which was just as well, as the place was so run down and unkempt that no one would have cared to buy it... the land was divided off, and sold piecemeal... what few other parcels of land that the man had left in his possession were to be sold to settle taxes that he owed... even at his age, he was very close to being foreclosed upon and being taken to debtor's prison, so in the opinions of most, it was a grudging blessing in disguise for the despicable old man that the devil came and took his own, when his house burned down, with him in it..._

_It was a dark, moonless night in the middle of the winter when there was a sound at the window of Janie's own room at her boarding house... she had no boarders at the time, as it was the slow season, as winter always was, and she was very surprised to hear several taps against the glass, as this was Jack's old signal to her... a pebble against the window pane. In the months since her father's death, she had seen Jack only once, as he was now working aboard ships that were sailing all over the world, along with his friend, Bootstrap Bill Turner, and it was quite unexpected that she should hear from Jack at this time of the year... she put on her dressing gown and went to the window..._

_In the half light, she saw a figure, but it was not Jack... it was Bill... and he was signaling desperately for her to come downstairs and to the back door. Something was wrong... something was very wrong..._

_"Bill! What is it? What is happening?" Janie's confused queries landed on deaf ears, as Bill swept past the opened back door of the boarding house, and doused the lanterns that she had lit, save for one... his tall form went from room to room, looking to see if there was anyone else there, as Janie kept saying, "What is it?" Finally, she took his arm and searched his blue eyes, "There is no one here... is Jack with ye?"_

_Bill finally took her hands in his, his handsome face creased with worry, and his voice in a hoarse whisper, "Jack is out there in the alley with his father, Janie... he's been shot twice in the chest..."_

۞

_Janie sped out into the night darkness as fast as her feet would carry her, with Bill right behind... out into the alley that was behind the boarding house... it was a dreadfully cold night, and their breath came in great clouds as they hurried..._

_Janie's eyes adjusted to the darkness, as she could see a dark form crouching down against a stone wall, with a smaller, slight form resting in his arms... a deep, husky, rumbling voice whispered, "Janie... can ye take us in for th' night, lass? My boy's hurt..."_

_Wordlessly, Janie began to grab Jack's ankles to help carry him, until she was pushed aside by Bill, and the trio hurried up into the open back door, and directly into a bedroom in the rear... it was only after the curtains were drawn that they were able to light a lantern and speak to each other._

_Janie nearly fainted when she saw all of the blood... "He was caught trying to steal food from the large marketplace up in County Mayo..." Bill began._

_"County Mayo??? That's miles from here!" Janie was hurriedly opening Jack's shirt as Captain Edward Jonathan Teague smoothed Jack's long dark hair out of his pale face... Teague's countenance bore no expression... but his black eyes and his hands were speaking for him, as he soothingly kept stroking Jack's cheeks._

_"We are in between ships... "Bill continued, "... and we needed to make our pay stretch as long as we could... Jack is quick, but wasn't quick enough t' hide the potatoes that we were going t' roast over a fire, and we were chased through the marketplace... we knocked over another stand as we were running, and someone started to by god shoot at us! Jack caught it right in the chest... I think that the shots ricocheted and hit him... I don't think they went deep enough t' kill, but he bled, bad..." he said with anger._

_Jack moaned, as Janie was probing around in the wounds to find try to find the rounds... "I already dug one out with my dagger, Janie," Bill took her hand, as Jack began to stir.. Teague had a wet towel and was trying to wash away the blood on his son's smooth chest, speaking to him in low Gaelic tones, and attempting to control his rage over his boy's carelessness, or a fool who would shoot someone over potatoes._

_Janie ran for her medicine box, and began to cleanse the wounds that were close together and on the upper right side of Jack's chest... it looked as though one had shattered a rib, and the other was already starting to become angry with some infection... the one that still had a round deep inside. Bill spoke, "... It's in there too deep to dig out, but I don't think it's going to kill him, or it would have by now... we have to keep the infection at bay..."_

_Teague finally spoke, as Janie wordlessly poured rum into Jack's two wounds... she was livid, and like Teague, she had no idea who to direct it at... toward Jack, or the one who had done this to him... the bleeding was slowing a bit, and she felt guilty for pressing her fingers into one bullet wound, and causing Jack pain, although he was not completely cognizant of his surroundings... She was shaken from her guilt by Teague's urgent voice._

_"Janie, I need to talk to ye, as soon as we can get Jack cleaned up..." Teague rumbled, his eyes not leaving his son's face. Bill took the towels from Janie's hand, and said, "I can take care of him, lass... go talk t' Jack's papa... ye need to talk to him... thank ye for giving us shelter..."_

_Janie had been hiding her anguish from both of her companions, until she finally looked at Jack's pale face in the lamplight... when had he last eaten a good meal? His face seemed thinner than it normally was ... his high, fine cheekbones had no cheeks, at all, under them... his brown eyes were not going to open anytime soon... his brows were drawn into a pained frown, and hands were moving ever so slightly... he moaned, again..._

_She felt tears stinging her eyes, and her lip start to tremble... her beautiful gypsy boy... scarred, again... pained, again... sick, again... as the two men watched, she slowly bent over him, and kissed him tenderly, her hand upon his cheek... and she then went to the kitchen to talk to Captain Teague in secret..._

۞

"My father was there?" Jack swiveled his head around to stare at Janie, incredulously. "I don't remember that!"

"Of course ye wouldn't... he had come to Ireland to talk some '_business_' with Father Gerald.." Janie cleared her throat, dramatically, and rolled her eyes up in an innocent manner, which made all of her companions smile... apparently the old priest was not averse to conducting 'business' with pirates a great deal, it seemed, "... and lo and behold, Teague found the two of ye right there in the village... Bill was at the pub, getting a bottle of rum to help ye, as ye laid in the alley behind my boardinghouse..."

Jack thought about this, as Janie turned to look at a mesmerized William and Elizabeth, and said, softly, "Jack had been carried for miles by your father, young William... all the way from County Mayo. Bill was a strong man, and Jack was light as a feather for him to carry... he had nothing to administer to Jack's wounds with, except the dagger that ye carry, yourself, and the shirt on his back...,"

Janie squeezed Jack's slender hand, as she continued, "... Bill kept my gypsy boy alive until he could find me... fortunately, he also found Captain Teague... oh, I would love to talk to Bill, again... "

"Also fortunately, I survived the dire wounds an' lived t' greet another morning..." Jack shifted his weight upon the many pillows that were under him, his face screwed up with some pain as he sat on one side of his rear, and then the other side... William did the same... Elizabeth stretched her stiff legs, and rested her head upon William's shoulder lovingly, her hands folded across her stomach, her face glowing as she listened to Janie's stories... Janie noticed Elizabeth's small move with her hands, and as always, said nothing.

... Janie shook her head at Jack, and said, "Ye bled worse than you was wounded, but I wish that we could have gotten the other round out of your chest, Jack..."

The captain sniffed, and said, "I'm surprised tha' William doesn't say that round o' lead in me lung adds weight t' me lovely, slender frame..."

William sipped at his mug and said, "... I didn't say a word, Jack..." he lowered his voice and winked at Elizabeth, "... about your scrawniness..."

The peat fire popped a little, and it was then that Janie took the cue to slowly get up and go to the kitchen for the bottle of whiskey, now to flavour their coffee rather than tea, and to find another bottle of rum for Jack... her hand upon her sore ribs, she turned slightly and said, over her shoulder, "... it was decided upon that night, that I would be finding a place to live that was not right in the middle of the village... for more reasons than one..."

۞

_Teague drew Janie into the kitchen... "He will live... my boy is stronger than he looks, but he will need care for a few days, love...'_

_'... this is not a social call, as I came here to tell ye, Janie, that now is th' time t' be using th' gold that I had ye hide nearly 10 years ago... land prices are down, and I don't want ye here in this house any longer... it has been on my mind for a long time that this house belonged to that son-of-a-bitch, O'Hennessey... that bastard that the other son-of-a-bitch that sired ye made ye marry... I'm sorry for my bluntness, lass... it isn't right for you to live in this house where ye had such misery, nor is it safe for my boy, if he turns pirate, like I know he will.."_

_Teague's black eyes were almost glowing in the darkness, forever looking like embers in a campfire..." I want ye t' get another place t' live, that ye aren't under everyone's noses, Janie... sell this house, as it was never home to ye, anyway... I will leave it up to you to choose a place, but I want you to have a home o' your own, away from prying eyes an' listenin' ears... we will worry about the details of purchase when the moment presents itself... we will make arrangements... but it will be yours, lass, bought by those that ye loved, and that loved you back, not handed down from those that ye hated..." _

_Janie began to ask a question... but Teague held up his hand, and said, "I have my reasons... use Maggie's and Jack's gold... all if it, if ye found it... under one condition... that ye don't tell Jack where ye got th' money until th' time is right that he will understand..."_

_Janie mouth had dropped open in astonishment, but she nodded seriously... her thoughts momentarily returned to the day that changed all of their lives... the day that a dark, menacing pirate captain lumbered into the burned out, overgrown clearing and into her life, looking for Maggie and his little son... only to find the woman that he loved so much and had wished to make his wife long dead, and his beloved son missing... Janie had promised him that she would hide the bag of coins that he had brought for his family... she had kept that promise, and had hidden it well for all of these years..._

_She had found the gold that her own father had intercepted from Teague's confidante, the man that Janie's father had paid off in an attempt to starve Maggie out of her home... the man that went missing, and Janie suspected had been disposed of by her father...she had found all of the gold, and it was time to put it to a very good use..._

_It was decided what they would do... and Janie went back to the back bedroom, to care for her wild, free spirited love... who was now crying out in pain, and calling her name..._

_To be continued..._


	29. A Scamp and a Scalawag

۞

_The following morning dawned cold and dreary... Jack was slightly fevered, and Janie had not left his side all night. The gray light came through the small window, as she had finally opened the curtain ever so slightly so that if he should regain consciousness he would see that he was not shackled, confined or imprisoned, anywhere... he was still free...Janie knew that this was of the utmost importance, without being told, since his mind would be hazy upon awakening... _

_She studied his dark face, as she bathed his cheeks and temples with a cool cloth... he was now nearly eighteen years old, and he was just now growing a decent beard and mustache.. he certainly looked like a sailor... she smiled ever so slightly, as she never had told him how much she enjoyed the tickling sensation of his mustache when they kissed..._

_He would never be rid of the angry red scar upon his jaw from the scurvy that had plagued him as a slave boy... and it was flared up in a nasty fashion, now. She smoothed his uncommonly thick, dark hair back from his face... it was getting so long that he was now wearing his mother's bright red bandanna to tame it. Her beautiful gypsy boy..._

_Janie pulled the blankets around his thin frame, as she sat upon the edge of the bed... his colour was a bit better, and even with a round in his chest, he was breathing evenly and seemed to be in less pain than the night before... she was mildly surprised when his eyes began to try to open... _

_Placing her cool hands upon his face, she leaned forward and whispered, "Jack? Jackie?"_

_"... Janie...?"_

_"Yes, darlin', it's me..."_

_Jack's eyes cracked open a little, and he was able to focus upon the freckled, lovely face of Janie O'Madden, so close to his that he almost felt like he could kiss her, if he'd had the strength. He tried to move his head a little upon the soft pillow, but she was holding his face in her hands, and smiling._

_"... damn near got yourself killed stealing potatoes, ye scamp..." Janie softly leaned down, and placed her cheek against Jack's fevered one... _

_He inhaled as deeply of her auburn curls as his burning chest would allow... she smelled of cinnamon and cloves, fresh bread and fresh air... he exhaled... her curls moved about in his breath... if he had not known it was his Janie, he would have sworn she was a lovely Irish angel..._

_"It was worth being nearly killed stealing potatoes, if potatoes brought me to you..." _

_Janie giggled a little, as she said, "... well, Bill brought you to me, but we'll say it was potatoes..." _

_She was careful not to mention Teague... he was already gone, after making sure that Jack was warm and comfortable in Janie's loving care, and that he was in no danger. He had business to take care of, and would be back to talk to Janie and check up on his boy... but Jack would not know... Teague was keeping his distance... giving Jackie his freedom._

_Janie stroked Jack's cheek, again, and he sighed with pleasure, moving his cheek slightly into her hand... she slowly raised his head and gave him a small sip of water from a cup that was upon the table next to the bed... gently, she smoothed a droplet of water from his lips, as those lips smiled ever so slightly..._

_She carefully climbed on top of the blankets, and laid down next to him, taking up the damp towel in her hand and bathing his face and neck with it... as her love closed his eyes to sleep, she moved her body up next to his, and pulled his head next to her shoulder. Laying a cheek upon his thick dark hair, she sang softly to him in Gaelic... he smiled again..._

_Weakly, he moved his hand out from under the blankets, and felt for her hand... they laid there for the rest of the morning, their bodies close, their fingers lovingly intertwined... even in his hazy, semi-conscious state, he was aware of his Janie in the mental twilight, and he knew that he would always associate the aromas of fresh bread and cinnamon with her..._

۞

_Jack recovered rather quickly from his wounds... within a week, he was up and about, with some help, and with Janie's loving care, he had fought off the infection that might have been fatal. He began to develop what might have been pneumonia, but with some good, hot, healthy food and rest, he very proudly resisted that, as well... a feat, in his own mind, since his captivity as a slave had forever weakened his Resistance to illness of all kinds... from the strange gleam in Jack's eyes, at times, Janie knew that the illness would not be confined to his body, alone... he was just like his mother in that way, she worried... _

_Knowing that Jack was in very capable and willing hands and would need some time to heal, Bill took out to England to see his Mary and their four year old son... Bill was always proud to come back with stories of little Will and that he was the spitting image of himself, except for Mary's soft, beautiful brown eyes... stories that always made Jack laugh at the wee one's antics, and a bit wistful that he had lost his own childhood so quickly... he had met the boy, himself, once, when the child was three, and was quite taken with the little Turner whelp's shyness... he knew that young Will would warm up to him, and Jack even had played 'sailor' with the child, teaching him to shout, "Avast!"..._

_As Janie helped Jack into the kitchen one afternoon to sit at the table while she prepared to knead the next morning's bread, she idly said, "Jack, I have been thinking... I might sell this house and move out into the county... I would like to open an inn, rather than a boardinghouse..."_

_Jack seemed not a bit surprised, as she settled him into a chair... "Out at th' cove?"_

_Janie stared at him... "How did you know?" She was quite frankly surprised that he was not surprised..._

_He grinned that wonderful lopsided grin of his that always melted her heart into a puddle... leaning forward, as he scratched the itchy healing wounds in his chest, he chuckled and said, "... ye said when we were little wee ones that ye wanted t' live in th' old house near th' waterfall, love... ye could hear it from Mama's cottage... an' we used t' hide in th' cave behind th' fall... is that property included in your father's tax sale, I wonder?" he said, slyly... "... an' who would put their name upon the sale, lass?"_

_"... I have an uncle who was estranged from my father..." Janie sat down in a chair next to Jack, and put her chin in her hand, blowing a curl out of her eyes and frowning slightly at him... she poured a glass of rum for him, as he had acquired quite a taste for it, and shook her head... Jack nodded and grinned wider, his two silver teeth shining impudently. He knew her much too well...and she suspected that he knew that she was not telling the entire truth, but he did not question..._

_Jack leaned forward and puckered up... "... an estranged uncle..." he mocked, as Janie also leaned forward and gave him a chaste little peck... he chuckled and said, "... an inn for me t' stay at whilst I'm in Ireland, love, directly off o' th' sea! Wif me own lassie as th' innkeeper..." _

_Pouting at him, Janie said, "I'm not your lassie...you're a scamp and a scalawag, and I don't know why I take care of ye like I do..."_

_Growing serious, Jack looked at her with those dark, lovely, chocolate coloured eyes, and said, softly, "... it's because we care about each other, Janie...someday I shall go to th' fishing village o' Claddagh, an' buy ye one o' Master Joyce's rings, for friendship, loyalty and love... don't think that I won't, if that's wot it takes to tell ye how much I care about ye... " those extraordinary eyes searched her own, as if they were looking into her very heart... which was beating quite quickly! A legendary ring from Claddagh... everyone in Connemara and County Galway knew how much one loved and was loved, when a ring from Claddagh was given..._

_Janie gently put her hand to his cheek, and said, "... you could never afford one of Master Joyce's rings... and you're right... I am your lassie... and always will be..."_

۞

Janie had gone to the kitchen to answer a knock at the door, when William leaned forward and said, "So who is Master Joyce, mate?" Elizabeth watched Janie go, then also leaned forward as William had... "... and what is the meaning of the ring that you spoke of? Did you ever get one for Janie?"

Jack swiveled his head around to see if Janie was listening, and then turned around, wincing as he shifted himself upon his nest of pillows underneath him. Raising his hands for emphasis, the captain's eyes grew wide and he smiled as he quickly told the story...

"Well, mates, th' _original _Richard Joyce was an apprentice goldsmith from Galway, back in th' 1600s. He decided t' ply 'is trade an' become a master goldsmith outside o' Eire, so he hopped a ship t' th' West Indies." Jack's hands were waving in random circles, occasionally punctuating his story with a raised finger. His eyes sparkled, as he was enjoying imparting some of the local legend to his young cousins.

"As luck would have it... or maybe not luck, as it were... the ship was raided by Algerian corsairs, which, o' course, is just a fancy word for pirates... now, these pirates were a particularly nasty bunch, as they were not above sellin' others into slavery as long as it profited them..." Jack paused, a frown darkening his face... "I don't wish t' sully th' name o' good pirates everywhere, so we'll keep callin' 'em corsairs, savvy?"

Glancing back over his shoulder at Janie, who was still talking to someone at the door, Jack continued, as the Turners listened eagerly. "...Master Joyce was taken back to Algiers, an' because he was a goldsmith apprentice, he was purchased... oh, I _hate_ sayin' that..." Jack paused in frustration, "... he was purchased by a kind Moorish master goldsmith. As it turns out, Master Joyce was trained under th' tutelage o' this Moorish bloke, an' Richard Joyce earned his mastership... or wot ever it's called... "

"... after a number o' years," Jack continued, " ... King William the bloody Third parlayed freedom for all o' his subjects who were under th' dark shackles o' slavery in foreign countries, an' because 'e had grown so fond o' Richard Joyce, the Moorish fellow offered 'is daughter an 'a handsome dowry if he would stay..." the captain turned and stared out into the kitchen and muttered, "Who the hell is at th' door?"

Elizabeth interrupted him, impatiently, "Jack! What happened to Master Joyce?"

"Oh!" Jack turned around and winced, again, as William chuckled at him. "...Well..." Jack's hands became active, again. "... Master Joyce came back to County Galway, an' opened a shop, which his grandson owns, now... I wonder if it would also be called a 'smiffy', like wot you worked at, William, since he was a goldsmith?" William shrugged.

"Alright, then, Master Joyce opened 'is shop, an' as it turns out..." Jack's eyes softened, and his hands stopped waving about for a moment... "... as it turns out, Master Joyce had a good reason t' return t' Ireland... ye see, he had a sweetheart that had stayed behind... an' she stayed true t' him..." the captain's husky voice became very quiet, as the story began to sink in with him...

"... his sweetheart stayed true to him here in Ireland... an' he designed a special ring for her... "

Just then, Jack cut off his story, and the Turners were disappointed, as Janie returned from the kitchen... looking at all of them, Janie smiled and said, "That was Alexander Kerrigan! If it stops raining, they are going hunting, as we have been invited to the gypsy camp for a feast in our honour!"

Everyone broke into huge grins, and Jack leaned back, and said, "I'll tell ye th' rest o' th' story later, mates..."

Janie did not sit down...she was thinking, as she put another chunk of peat upon the fire, and went into the bedroom off of the great room... returning with a parcel and an envelope sealed with sealing wax, she waited until the fire flamed up and warmed the room, and she said, "... now... back to the story of the Ó Madáin Inn... and Jack... you will find out just what the real story is..."

Jack's smile faded, as Janie slowly handed him the envelope... it had his name on it, in Captain Teague's straightforward handwriting... Jack's eyes met Janie's, and Janie's eyes fell to her folded hands in her lap...

_To be continued_...


	30. Revelations

۞

_**Author's note: **__This chapter is very long, very emotional... I could not break it up and keep it flowing right, so I shall treat everyone to a good, long read! We are nearing the end of our story, mates! Enjoy! Pirate Cat_

۞

Jack slowly opened the letter that had his name upon the outside, sealed with his father's signet ring as the Keeper of the Code... looked at all of his companions, and began to read it to himself... but the knowledge within was so extraordinary that he started over, and read it aloud in his husky, low voice:

_"My dearest son, _

_By the time that you read this, I will have met with you and my nephew and his wife on the Greek island of Mykonos... you have no idea how grateful I am that you agreed to see me, as I know that our relationship has been very distant, and I have admitted to you that I should not have kept that distance from you... I accept all of the blame for any hard feelings that you might have borne, and I should not have done this to you out of my own selfishness in guarding my own heart from breaking again... I should have been there to help you more, to guide you... I hope that we can build a relationship from here forth... it is all up to you... I will let you set the pace, son..._

_I always loved you, Jackie... I loved you so much that you would nearly break my heart every time that I saw you, you reminded me so much of Maggie. By now, you know that I wanted to marry your mother, but it was too late by the time that I had the courage to come back to Ireland to talk to her, face to face. At least Janie was able to help me find you... even at the tender age that she was at the time, she was a smart one, and had her own burdens to bear. Jackie, she set me upon the right path to find the Queen of the Dark and you, by truthfully telling me everything that had happened. _

_There are more truths that need to be made known, son, and that is what I am laying out in this letter, as I do not wish to impose upon Janie to tell you the entire story of the Inn, herself. I am involved in all of this, also, and I am much more inclined to speak out with a quill and upon paper, than in person..._

_I know that Janie has told you, over the years, that she had used the money from the sale of the O'Hennessey house as a down payment upon the inn, and she told you that she had an estranged uncle in Africa that bought the Inn for her, in proxy, but this is not entirely true. I was the one that knew where things were heading for both of you, and I knew that a house of bad memories for Janie would be no place for the two of you to make good memories, so I waited, and watched how the market for land was going (with our late friend Father Gerald Cleary's help), and advised Janie that it was time to sell the house in the village and find a home to pursue her dream... an inn farther out in County Galway..._

_Incidentally, Janie tells me that you have worried over her, and have sent her money every year, and have come to see her as much as you could. I know how much you love each other, maybe more than you have realized it... You're a good lad for trying to be there for Janie, son, as extensively as you wander and as much as you are in between ports... more upon that subject in a moment.._

_The truth about the Inn is this... Janie knew that there was a parcel of land that her father had owned that would be perfect for the needs at hand, and once again, with the help of Father Gerald, Janie fabricated an uncle ... (an ivory hunter in Kenya, I believe that is what she told me, which I thought was amusing...)_

_They did a fine job of writing a false, but believable, letter of proxy, and with Father Gerald's impeccable endorsement of what a man of sterling quality 'Lord E. J. T. Ó Madáin' was, the local authorities believed it, and they sold the Inn and the surrounding forest land and waterfront to someone that was pretty much fictitious, merely to erase the tax burden and wash their hands of it. _

_It had no value as farm land, and the Inn was in need of repair, so they felt the county authorities felt that they had come out upon the high end of the accord, and thought nothing of Janie taking over under her "uncle's" auspices._

_Notice, Jackie, that I said that the uncle was "pretty much" fictitious. Father Gerald did not feel right about it all being an outright lie, so the part about Janie's "uncle" living in Africa was not totally untrue... please study the "uncle's" initials and you will understand what I mean... you always were a bright boy, and I know that you will know who it the real owner of the inn is, right away, although __only__ on paper, which, unless it is the Pirata Codex, doesn't mean spit._

_The funds that were used to purchase the land, the Inn, and improve upon it, furnish it and build the dock had been hidden for years in Janie's care... I will let her explain that part to you... _

_Just remember, son... I loved your mother with all of my heart... I love __you__ with all of my heart, and once again, am so grateful that we can speak to each other truthfully, now... _

_I will take the liberty of dispensing a bit of fatherly advise, Jackie, not that I deserve to...I know that you love Janie as much as I loved Maggie... Tell her, son... keep showing her... treat her with respect. While you are at it, treat yourself with more respect, and I don't mean by your damned bravado... you will understand what I mean by that statement, boy... steal the wenches' money from them while in port... don't contribute to their finances, be a true pirate and plunder it from them... go make merry and get drunk with it, live with the slaps that you'll get, then go see your lassie in Ireland... she is worth a thousand of them..._

_It is too late for your mother and me, but it is not too late for you and your girl, Janie. I'm not telling you what to do, son, I am only asking you to not make the mistakes that I did with your mother, and with you. I should have let both of you know how I loved you much more, and much sooner, than I did. The rest is between you and her... _

_Warm regards to William and Elizabeth from Uncle Jonathan. Tell them I should enjoy having a little grandniece or grandnephew to call me 'Uncle Jonathan', also. In spite of what might be seemly, I rather like little whelps. I look forward to seeing them again, sometime._

_I hope to hear from you in the future, Jackie... as you have said, you know where to find me, if you ever need me... _

_With much love and respect, _

_Your Papa_

_PS - you might wonder how this letter and parcel reached Janie from Greece so quickly... all I will say is "sea turtles"... I will let you wonder about it from there, son._

Enclosed with the letter was a small package, and within was a carefully preserved toy ship... a toy that had been meant for a lively little black haired boy, who had been sold into slavery... an exact replica of the ship upon which he had been born, the Star of Madagascar...

۞

All four of the friends read the letter again as Jack passed it around, his slender hands holding the toy ship almost reverently... his eyes were gazing at it in wonder, as Janie bit her lip, remembering the day that she saw it in Teague's hand...

"Th' letter said that your semi-fictitious 'uncle' was named 'Lord E. J. T. Ó Madáin'... 'Edward Jonathan Teague'...and he lives in Madagascar, a part of Africa...th' inn is owned by my father...an' he signed th' letter 'Papa'..."

Jack was completely stunned... he stared hard at Janie, who was now sitting quietly, staring at her hands... the secrets that she had kept from him for all of these years were now out in the open, and William and Elizabeth gazed at her in wonder... Jack Sparrow was now privy to just how much he had been loved... and was completely speechless. Janie was now fighting many mixed emotions, as Jack's hand reached over, and placed itself over hers...

Janie swallowed hard, " I had found both of the bags of gold that my father had stolen from you and your mother in my father's mansion, Jack... " she whispered, as the peat fire popped and sizzled as raindrops fell down the chimney. Anger was now colouring Janie's rosy cheeks, and she quickly brushed her hair from her forehead.

"I found the gold..." her voice became icy, "... under the floorboards of my own childhood bedroom... that bastard father of mine hid pirate gold - blood money that Maggie paid for with her life, you paid for with your body's health and your fragile mind, and Captain Teague paid for with his heart - _in the floor under my own bloody bed that I cried in after Maggie died and you were taken away_!"

Janie's chest began to heave with hurt and indignance, as Jack's thumb began to stroke the back of her hand...Janie's face was now flushed with a mix of fury and love as she glanced down at the dark, be-ringed hand that was over hers ... a loving hand that lead her running and dancing happily through an otherwise bleak life, that had tenderly dried countless tears, that had flutteringly told many stories of blessed, blessed freedom, that had feverishly clung to hers as the only hope that was left... a hand that had given her such intangible and wondrous things that only love can give...

Janie cleared her throat,"... I found the gold just before we did my father in... I never told anyone, not even Teague... I hid the three bags in three different places...'

'...Captain Teague told me when to buy the inn, so that I would have a place to live and have my kind of freedom... but mostly of all so that his free spirited and wild son would have a place of safe haven and loving arms to hold him...this place was paid for, in full, by pirate gold and pain...'

'...Captain Teague may be the hidden owner, on paper, and it paid for in pirate gold that was meant for you and your mother, but he didn't want you to know any of this until the time was absolutely right... he knew that the time _was_ right after seeing ye come back from the Locker and seeing you, William and Izzy be heroes at World's End... and finding out what ye did for William and Izzy, to help them be together...and after finding out that William was your cousin and was sailing with ye, he knew then that you would strong enough, in spite of everything that has happened to ye in your life, and in spite of the damage that has been done to ye... whether ye accepted Teague and the mistakes that he made, he knew you were ready for the truth about it all, my darlin'..."

' ... any money that you sent to me, Jack, was used to make the inn more comfortable for you and I, and everyone that we call 'our family'... it is your mama's and papa's legacy to ye, Jack... and I am the appointed caretaker of that legacy... because I love you so much..."

William was watching Jack closely... the captain was fighting something very hard that was bubbling from his damaged mind... he was fighting for control of everything that was spinning around... images of people, places, fire, storms, sand, water...his mother... his father... the wailing of the banshee... his Janie, who he now accepted as the love of his life... oh, how much he loved her!...

Jack put his head in his hands for a moment, as William moved over to the trunk in front of his best friend, facing him, putting his arms across the captain's shoulders and simply letting him work through it. "It's alright, mate... it's alright... you have us... you have us... we're all together... our family is together..."

Janie and Elizabeth both moved closer to him, as he kept his head down. Janie put her arms around him and whispered, "... it was a lot to hear, my love... it was a lot to take in, I know..."

After a few moments, Jack shook his head hard... his eyes focused and he took a deep breath, as William patted his shoulders reassuringly. Jack looked up at them all, and said, pitifully, "... sorry... too many voices in here... a lot goin' on in here... sorry... " he tapped his forehead and frowned. He then took another deep breath, and composed himself. Turning to his Janie, who was looking at him with eyes that were filled with weariness but relief, he nodded that he was alright, and stroked her curls away from her face.

It was then that William reached under the couch cushion, pulled out the hidden bottle of rum, uncorked it, and with a wink, handed it to his captain, who took several grateful gulps. Belching a little, Jack smiled faintly at his young first mate, who patted Jack's shoulders one more time. Everyone was relieved, as they knew that Jack was doing his best to cope with the overwhelming news, and with his loved ones around him, he seemed to fight this mental flickering back with more ease than usual.

He smiled a little more, and then rather brightly offered the bottle back to William, who also took a good swallow and smacked his lips. Jack tipped his head back and said, brightly,"... as my cousin an' Captain Teague's nephew, ye'll have t' learn about sea turtles, William...maybe when we're too old t' go piratin', we can all retire t' th' inn, here, wif th' Pearl moored in th' cove, an' we can raise sea turtles, eh? Turtles for hire...I'll weave ropes for rafts..." He twiddled his beaded braids...

They all began to smile... then chuckle... then laugh out loud... the somber mood was broken, and it was once again a time to laugh, and enjoy each other's company in this place that had been provided as a secure, wonderful place of love and warmth.

Janie smoothed out her skirt primly, and straightening up, still grasping Jack's hand, she said... "...Well, then, do ye want to know where I hid the gold?" She began to laugh in a devious way, as she finally looked up at all three pairs of curious eyes...Jack's smile shone golden, as he answered, "Did ye hide it like a true pirate, love? Ye're a pretty good pirate, from wot I can tell... ye can be hung for this, ye know..."

Janie laughed a little, and said, "Well, I learned from the best...I hid one in the cave behind the waterfall in the forest, where we... well, where we..." Janie finally blurted out, "...where Jack and I go to swim naked in warm weather!"

Elizabeth and William stared, then burst into laughter, as Jack draped his arm over Janie's shoulder, tilted his head to one side, and said, matter of factly,"We'll take the whelp an' his bonnie lass there in the spring... they can swim naked in the pond, as well, if the mood strikes them... it's a good place to find nice chunks of Connemara marble...as well as other things..." he said, wickedly, wiggling his eyebrows at Janie, who wiggled her eyebrows back at him.

"The second bag of gold I hid in the meadow behind the barn where we used to meet in the hayloft. Ye already know what Jack and I did in the hayloft all those years!"

"Janie, ye make it sound like _that_ is all we do, love!" Jack exclaimed, and then he paused, and his mouth dropped open, and his hands raised in mid-air..."Wait... Ye hid the gold in the meadow _behind_ th' barn... ye don't mean..." He wrinkled up nose in distaste and fluttered his hands as if they were filthy. "Ewwww! Ick!"

Janie smiled proudly, as she quieted the captain's hands... "I buried it in the dung pile... even pirates hesitate to dig for gold in a huge pile of fermenting horse manure..." Jack smirked and muttered, "... not th' crew o' th' Black Pearl... I would order me first mate t' dig for it..."

William muttered back, "... and I would order Mr. Pintel to do it..." Elizabeth looked relieved.

As Janie's three companions looked at her with admiration at her inventiveness, William finally asked, "... and the third bag of gold?"

Janie's face turned somber, and she said, softly, "... in the burned out stone chimney... where Maggie's cottage was burned to the ground... and once I had the inn, here, to name and run as I pleased, I named the inn the way that I did not out of respect to the name, but because I knew that my father would have absolutely _hated_ it... "

Silence fell over them, as the fire burned warmly, lighting all of their faces with its glow... Jack was staring into the fire, thinking about all that had been revealed upon this rainy day, softly letting his hand run back and forth over Janie's.

William reached over and patted Jack's knee, and said, softly, "I told Janie on the very first night that we arrived that I felt like we were all guided to this place in time, Jack... now we know it's true, cousin... we were meant to be here... it was time that _all_ of this was known... every word of it..."

Jack stared at William, then at a beaming Elizabeth, then at the quiet Janie... after several moments, he turned to Janie, and said, "Janie... I can't believe... I... you..." and with that, he took a long drink from the bottle of rum that had been resting quietly upon the trunk, and then thought to himself that it made the gift that was in the deep pocket of his vest seem a bit superfluous... but then again, maybe not...

He gathered her into his arms and pulled up a blanket, tucking it around his girl, as William and Elizabeth did the same, William smiling and musing, "I have an 'Uncle Jonathan'"... and they all stared into the fire, as Elizabeth happily smoothed a hand over her middle under the blanket... this time William noticed... and as he kissed her gently on top of her head, his hand joined hers... she wondered if he suspected what the voice upon the wind had told her the night before at the gypsy camp...

...the gypsy midwife had said it was too soon to tell, but the warm and loving Irish wind had told her, in a musical feminine voice, that the Pirate King was carrying the child of the wind's own nephew, William Turner the Second... and Elizabeth had heard the music of an Irish harp, and a song of love for a pirate captain with burning black eyes, and a song of love for her son, her beloved son and his own bonnie lass and their family... Elizabeth closed her eyes, remembering the song of Magdalena Sparrow...

Jack softly wound one of Janie's curls around a slender finger.. he was having thoughts of his own... he had a 'papa'... and a loving family all around him, who would go to the end of the world for him... he had thought as a child that he was worth nothing, but like his father, he was wrong about many things... he had a woman in his arms, who loved him as deeply as he loved her, a woman whose heart was tangled hopelessly with his own, never to be parted... the captain shook his head in wonder... "I'll be damned..."

As they all listened to the soft Irish wind, and the rain against the stone walls, and as his Janie slowly entwined her fingers firmly into his under the warm blanket, Jack happily gazed into his Janie's blue eyes, leaning in to press his dark cheek against her rosy one... and he hoped that he could show his Janie just how much he loved her, even if he thought that his own small gift would never equal all that she had given to him...

۞

Their thoughts were interrupted when Jack inexplicably began to talk to himself... or rather, to his vest pocket.

"... Wot's that? Come again? Oh! 'Ello, mate! Aren't you usually on me shoulder, under me hair?" He peered down under the blanket, and into his pocket, his head tilted and beads jingling. Janie stared at him in shock, as Elizabeth and William merely took their eyes from the fire and over to the captain, who was muttering to his pocket.

Janie turned stare at the Turners, who then realized that she had not witnessed this particular phenomenon. Elizabeth leaned forward and tilted her own head... "It's not unusual..." she whispered, loudly, "He has little 'friends'... little 'Captain Jacks' that sit upon his shoulders... they advise him, sometimes..." Nodding as if this was the most normal thing in the world, Elizabeth smiled at the fussing captain with affection... "They're rather clever..."

Jack suddenly jumped, "OI!", startling Janie, who also jumped, then who hit him rather smartly upon his arm. He twitched his mustache, and ignoring her, he reached down into his pocket, looking at a grinning William and Elizabeth, who know knew that he had been joking with them...

Blinking hard at them all, Jack tilted his head back in the superior manner that he usually aspired to with his crew, and slowly turned his eyes sideways to look at Janie... who started to snort with laughter at how grand and silly he looked.

As his face slowly softened with a smile, he delicately picked up her left hand, and with the most wonderful, fluid movement usually used to pick pockets, a ring appeared...

Janie's right hand clasped over her mouth as she cried out, "OH!" Her breath escaped her in a loud gasp, as upon her hand was the loveliest ring of gold, set with a polished heart made of hunter green Connemara marble... it was exquisite... Janie was utterly speechless, and huge tears welled up in her blue eyes... she could not stop staring at it, as she knew how much a ring such as this meant...

Jack leaned toward the his young cousins, and said, softly, "... I never got t' finish telling th' two of ye of th' legend of th' ring of Claddagh... take a good look at th' design..." With her other hand still clapped over her mouth, Janie extended a shaking left hand to the admiring William and Elizabeth, who were thoroughly enjoying this moment...

"... th' hands on either side are to represent friendship... th' crown at th' top represent loyalty...the heart..." Jack turned Janie's face toward his, as her head was shaking at him, "... th' heart, o' course, means love..."

The captain looked deeply into Janie's eyes, and said in a voice barely above a whisper, "... there is a story within a story, here, love... I had this ring made by Master Joyce's shop several years ago... the marble is from the waterfall... I have a bead made from the same chunk o' marble that you and I found upon th' day that you an' I came over t' look at th' inn after ye bought it... th' first day we went skinnydippin'!" Jack's eyes were dancing with light, and they all laughed...

"... th' gold is from me first pirate raid... some of it ended up in me mouth..." he pointed at his gold teeth. "...me first pirate raid after I was branded, and me Pearl was reborn from the depths, courtesy of selling me soul t' th' devil..." the captain's face clouded over, as he took a deep breath and went on. Janie squeezed his hands.

"... I have a secret place in th' dark depths of me Pearl where I keep things that I want no one t' know about... I kept a piece of my mother's bobbin lace there, along wif this ring... when I lost my ship for ten years, this ring an' my mother's lace were hidden there, an' never found by Barbossa an' the cursed crew... my Pearl guarded them for me, love... my Pearl knows how deeply I loved my mother... an' how deeply I love you...'

'... when th' whelp, here, helped me get me ship back, " Jack swept his hand toward William, who bowed a little bit, "... I tied the bobbin lace around me wrist, to keep wif me always... I moved th' ring t' a place in me cabin... under me bunk... its a wonder that Izzy didn't find it, since that's where I keep me fancy cakes o' soap!" Elizabeth laughed a little, as Jack growled at her.

Turning back to a loving Janie, Jack became very serious, and suddenly struggled for words... "Janie... I...this ring went t' th' Locker an' back wif me, Janie...I... "

He hurriedly turned back to the Turners, and cleared his throat, "Well! The legend says that if the person wearing a ring of Claddagh wears it on th' right hand, wif th' point o' th' heart facing inwardly, that person is _lookin_' for love... if it is on the right hand, pointed outwardly, that person is _considerin_' love...if th' ring is worn on the left hand upon the ring finger, wif th' point is outward, the wearer is tellin' th' whole world tha' their heart is _won_... ."

They all looked at the lovely ring... Jack had placed it upon Janie's left hand with the heart pointing outward, except upon her small finger... for her to make the decision... the captain looked at his love with hope shining in his eyes, "... I leave it up to you, Janie O'Madden... me Pearl has me soul, but you have me heart... have I won yours? Will ye forever be th' lassie o' Captain Jack Sparrow?"

Janie brushed a curl out of her eyes, and wordlessly, but happily, removed the ring from her the small finger of her left hand... and with the heart's point facing out, she took Jack's hand, and they both placed it upon her ring finger...

Jack's face glowed as he held her hand with the gleaming golden ring, as Janie found her voice, "... I don't know about 'Captain Jack Sparrow', but I know that my heart was won over thirty years ago by a beautiful little gypsy boy, who gave my own heart wings..." she began to struggle to speak...

Suddenly William got up, pulled both Jack and Janie to their feet in front of the fireplace, and placed Jack's dark hand over Janie's now be-ringed one... Jack began to protest loudly, but William raised his hand and glared at him. "Shut it..." Jack fell into rebuffed silence, biting his lip to keep from laughing and his eyes round, as Elizabeth and Janie began to giggle. Elizabeth jumped to her feet, and went to Janie's side...

Raising his hand, William said, loudly, "... with the power invested in me as the former captain of the Flying Dutchman and first mate of the Black Pearl, I shall now exercise the rite observed by many gypsy tribes of two people simply saying 'I love you' as a form of... ahem... 'marriaaage'... but _we_ shall call it a rite of '_not-quite-that-much-commitment-because-we-don't-like-the-word-'married'..."_

Jack and Janie both burst out laughing at William's own impudence... "Wot th' HELL are ye doing, William???"

'...Shut it, Jack! _Dún do bheal ! _Now! As the former captain of the Flying Dutchman, I now pronounce you 'beautiful gypsy boy' and his 'lassie'... you may now kiss the lassie! Drinks all around!"

..and repeating Jack's proclamation as he had presented William and Elizabeth with a gift of wedding rings and a ring ceremony, William swept his hands out grandly, and crowed, "_Top THAT one, Hector_!"

Elizabeth jumped up and clapped her hands, shouting "HUZZAH! _Sláinte_! Cheers!" as the captain and his lassie stopped laughing, and melted into a passionate, deep, lingering kiss, with Janie's gleaming gold ring sparkling in the light of the fire and the captain's beads jingling against her arm like tiny bells...

And outside, the Irish wind blew happy ripples on the water of the sea outside of the hidden cove, that could be felt all the way to the fishing village of Claddagh... to Shipwreck Island...and all the way to the blue waters of the Caribbean sea...

_To be continued..._


	31. No Man is an Island

۞

_**Author's note: **__This is it, mates... the final chapter. Thank you so much for your support... and thank you for sailing with me in my lovely Pirates universe. Pirate Cat_

۞

Word had come from Captain James Norrington... the stormy weather in the western Atlantic had passed... it was safe to make the crossing to the Caribbean... it was time to leave, if they wished. They had stayed at the Inn for over two weeks, and if they were to make the voyage safely back they would have to leave soon, before another storm manifested itself in their way, and they would be forced to change plans to pursue the hidden Aqua de Vida, again. Jack was determined to find this elusive treasure of eternal youth... he had plans for it...

The past two weeeks had been wonderful to the Turners... their honeymoon was like they had never imagined it would be... it was a time of love, a time of learning. A time of beauty and discovery... and for their best friend and much loved captain, a time of healing. They had made a new best friend of the love of his life, the innkeeper who had poured out her own heart and soul to them, in order to ease the pain of the man that she loved... and to ease the pain that she had also kept in her own heart for so many years. Jack Sparrow and Janie O'Madden loved each other fiercely, just like William and Elizabeth did... a love borne of adversity in both cases, and love that conquered all...

The crew of the Black Pearl had been rounded up from the farthest reaches of Counties Galway and Mayo by the Kerrigan family... Mr. Gibbs had even made his way into County Clare to sample the good whiskeys that were made there, and had made very good friends with a fine Irish widow who had rented a room to him in her boardinghouse as he made the rounds of the pubs...

Jack's eyebrows had shot straight up at this news, as Joshamee seemed much more fond of the Widow O'Shaughnessy, who lived in a village near the cliffs of Moher, than he had ever been of any woman that Jack knew of... and Janie knew her and approved of her!

Gibbs' ruddy cheeks would turn ruddier as he asked his captain if there was a sure chance that the Pearl might make a trip to Ireland in the springtime, and Jack had archly said that he would think it over...even though it had already been decided that they would make the crossing back to Ireland in May. Gibbs' only explanation was that there were several more whiskeys and stouts that he wished to try, and one should always be open to expand one's knowledge of the things that one loves. Jack had rolled his eyes...

Elizabeth had snickered as Janie admonished the captain for his evasive answers, as Gibbs made his way to take his sea bag - with freshly laundered clothes, no less - to his own shelf upon the ship... Jack waved her off with a grin, as he and William joined Gibbs to row the longboat out to the dark ship that had been slumbering in the cove all of this time... even the Pearl looked as though she was shaking off sleep, as the crew began to make her ready to sail...

There was an uncharacteristic silence between the two women as they prepared victuals for the ship's galley. Janie was lovingly packing a special parcel... one with several jars and crocks of wild plum jam... meant for only one special person, although she made sure that the Turners would have their own. It was with no great surprise that Elizabeth saw tears beginning to fall into the parcel among the jars... gently, she went over to Janie, whose back was to her, turned her around and pulled her into an embrace.

"Dammit!" Janie cursed, as she slipped her arms around this lovely, slender young woman with whom she had formed such a strong bond over such a short time..."... dammit..." she repeated, as she dissolved into tears on Elizabeth's welcoming shoulder... "... I never cry when Jack leaves! Never!"

Elizabeth gently pulled out two chairs and they sat down by the kitchen table, Janie's hands angrily picking up a dishtowel and wiping her eyes... Elizabeth took Janie's hands in hers, and said, softly, "... is it because of the last time that Jack left? The two of you had such a quarrel, and then Jack didn't come back until now? And knowing what happened to him..."

Janie shook her head, and struggled for a moment. Turning her tearful blue eyes up to Elizabeth's sympathetic ones, and said, "... that's only part of it, Izzy... I see how he is, now... he can't make it alone... he's so full of blarney and bluster, and his mind is not sound any more... promise me..." Tears began to fall again, and Elizabeth found her own eyes starting to burn..."...promise me... swear to me... that you'll bring my Jackie back to me..."

Elizabeth's mouth fell open in surprise... it had never occurred to her that there would ever be any doubt that they would come back with Jack in the spring... but then she remembered how she had felt when Will left with the Dutchman... not knowing what lurked out there, even for an immortal... and picturing this strong, extraordinary woman staring out to sea for months, not knowing where Jack was, feeling terrible guilt over letting him leave in anger, the way that he did, and then hearing that her oldest friend and the cherished love of her life was dead in the jaws of the Kraken...

"Swear to me, Izzy!" Janie still had a jar of jam clutched in her hand, and the gold and marble of her beautiful ring of Jack's love was shining with spilled tears.

Elizabeth put her arms around Janie's neck, and hugged her tightly, patting her back soothingly, "... Oh, Janie... Jack will never be alone out there... Will and I have sworn to take care of him... he's stuck with us... I promise we'll always bring him back to you..."

As Elizabeth let Janie sit back, and helped her to dry her tears, they both laughed a little as Janie stared at the jar of jam in her hand, and muttered, "I hate when I cry... what has that scamp reduced me to? It's like we're married, or something..."

Elizabeth smiled at her friend, and wiped her own eyes... "Janie... can you teach me one word in Gaelic? For no reason, except that I just want to know one certain word..." She was trying to make Janie smile, also, as she ran her hand across her belly... she felt a wondrous flutter deep within her... Janie's eyes began to shine in another way, as she watched Elizabeth's hand... Janie swallowed hard and nodded a little...

Placing her hand over her young friend's, they both looked down at their golden rings ... and Janie said, softly, "...'_báibín_'... that means 'wee baby', and I expect to be holding it in me arms next fall as its 'auntie'... "

Elizabeth grinned and said, "... not 'auntie'... I'm Jack's 'cousin-in-law', Janie... and Will and I consider you Jack's ''almost wife', no matter what the two of you think... that makes you a 'cousin-in-law', as well!"

Janie began to chuckle, and as she got up to place the last jar of jam into it's parcel, she wiped her eyes, again, and muttered, goodnaturedly, "... you're all full of blarney, then... 'almost wife'!" Janie snorted and rolled her eyes, just in time to see William standing in the kitchen doorway, trying not to burst into laughter as Jack looked at all of them with eyes that looked like a startled owl... William nudged Jack rather hard, and laughed, "That makes you an 'almost husband', mate..."

Jack stared at him, then at Elizabeth, who was trying very hard not to laugh, also... mulling it over, he shrugged a little, then sauntered over and wrapped his arms around Janie's waist from behind and tickled her cheek with his mustache... she giggled, and tried to push him away, "Stop it, ye daft scamp!"

The captain nuzzled his face in as she turned toward him, and as the amused young Turners looked on, they shared a kiss... sighing happily, they both closed their eyes, as Jack and murmured, "...'almost husband'... yup... I'm good wif it, but only wif you..."

۞

The mighty Black Pearl had been westward bound for several hours, now, and twilight was beginning to fall on the horizon at her bowsprit... the rush of the water was exhilarating to her crew, as they all were ready to feel the currents that caressed the dark ship's hull, and the wind filling her black canvas sails...

Elizabeth was airing out hers and Will's cabin... and she could not help but feel sadness... her thoughts went back ...

_... the anchor had been weighed, and the sweeps were run out... as the Pearl was slowly rowed through the waters of the cove, Janie had walked along the rocky shore, wordless... keeping perfect eye contact with the slight, slender man who was standing at the wheel... William and Elizabeth watched with somber faces, as the Pearl picked up speed... there was no sound but for the dipping of the sweeps into the water, and the voices of the men below as they rowed... Janie's pace was perfectly timed to the movement of the ship, as she picked up her skirts, and walked faster..._

_... the ship reached the mouth of the cove, and the open Atlantic was before them, the sun pouring forth gloriously, and the water sparkling, and as green as the moss covered mountains on either side... the sails filled with wind, and it was as if the ship leaped forward like the gypsy caravan horses that had carried them through the forest. It was then that Jack handed the wheel over to Mr. Cotton, and as the parrot squawked, he suddenly ran to the rigging and began to clamber up... alarmed, William had watched him... then seeing Jack's face, he nodded to Elizabeth and they followed their captain..._

_As the ship pulled further and further away from the shore, all three of them climbed to the highest yardarm, and they all turned toward the stern of the ship... the sea was beginning to churn, and the beauty that was the cliffs of Connemara was spreading itself out behind them in wild, untamed glory... _

_And standing upon an outcropping of rocks, the waves splashing up against her legs, waving and wiping her eyes, was an auburn haired woman, her skirts hiked up past her knees... her curls blowing about her face and her voice crying out, "... Tá grá agam duit ...Tá grá agam duit, Jack Sparrow...Tá grá agam duit ..."_

_William and Elizabeth had both held on to the rigging, as their captain stood, leaning forward, with his feet planted far apart, his coat filling with wind like the sails, his dark hair and his red bandanna blowing all around his face... and he mouthed the same words back to her, fighting back tears of his own, "... Tá grá agam duit ... I love you, Janie... I love you..." _

_And they had stayed that way until the beautiful coast of Ireland and Janie O'Madden were no longer in view..._

۞

Elizabeth was shaken from her thoughts when a soft knock came on the door... as she said, "... come in...", the door opened and William came in. Seeing the look upon his lovely wife's face, he came in and sat down beside her upon their bunk, putting his arms around her and kissing her. "Are you alright, my love?"

Nestling against him, lovingly, she nodded. "Yes... how's Jack?"

"Why dontcha ask 'im, yourself, Izzy?" came a husky voice from the doorway, and they were greeted by the dark face of their captain, peeking in...

"Oh, Jack, come in... " Elizabeth smiled up at him, as the Pearl was rocking upon the waves... it was rather nice to feel the ship rolling through the sea again, and hearing the flapping of the sails and the rigging above them... Jack's body was naturally moving with his ship, his hips swaying and his shoulders dipping only slightly as he sat down in one of the two chairs that the snug little cabin contained...

"Are you alright, mate?" William asked, as Jack took out a bottle of rum and three tankards, and plopped them hard on the tiny table next to the bunk, pulling the cork out of the bottle with a loud pop. Jack said nothing for a moment, then spoke, his face never looking up from the tankards that he was pouring for the three of them. Handing them to his young companions, he said, "... I want t' thank both of ye..."

William and Elizabeth took their mugs, and waited... Jack took a long, deep drink of his rum, belched a little, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand... his brown eyes finally looked up to theirs, and the little lantern that was suspended from the ceiling gave the cabin a soft glow..." I want t' thank you ... just 'thank you' for... well... " he took another swallow of rum, and cast his eyes downward... "... you know..."

William took a swallow of rum, as Elizabeth sipped hers a little, and William said, "... Jack, I need to tell you something, mate..."

Jack looked up in silence, his eyes curious, as William continued, "... I am honoured to be your cousin... I never felt as close to anyone or anything in my life, other than Elizabeth, you and my father, as I did to Eire and her people, Jack. I belonged... on the night that we rescued Allan and Betsy, I felt like I was fighting for my own people, not just friends. I felt like I was fighting for _us_, Jack... for our family and what it has suffered... I heard my Aunt Maggie's voice in the wind, and when you read the letter from your father, I truly felt that he was _my_ Uncle Jonathan!"

William's voice was becoming more emotional as his eyes began to glow, his shirt draped open at the front, and the jagged scar across his chest showing. Jack listened with pride, and Elizabeth felt her sadness melting away, as William said, "... I felt at home in the forest... I was proud to tell of our adventures, together, at the feast in our honour, and to show how to throw a sword... the gypsies can sure as hell throw daggers, but I taught them how to throw a sword... you, mate, never missed a shot with your pistol, when they threw pieces of wood and peat into the air! I have never seen you miss a shot, Jack!"

William was leaning forward, and his eyes were afire, "I felt _Irish_, Jack! I felt not like your cousin, but like your brother! I cannot wait to go back, mate... I cannot wait until we go back to stay at the Inn and sit by the fire with Janie, again!"

"Really? Ye felt like a brother t' me, lad? Ye liked me Janie?" Jack's face lit up, as he leaned over and slapped William on the knee.

"Well, then, William! Ye're a better Irishman than most Irishmen I know! Ye have th' fire," Jack's eyes glittered,"... ye've always had th' fire, lad, an' a true Irishman's inner fire is fueled wif peat from th' bogs and calmed wif th' mist!" As he and his young cousin enthusiastically tapped their mugs together, they both shouted, "_Sláinte! Erin Go Bragh_!"

Laughing at her two most loved men in the world, Elizabeth chirped, "I brought plenty of supplies from the marketplace in the village to make a few loaves of bread to start out with, Jack, and ... what is it... what's wrong?"

Jack's eyes had traveled to the mattress, under the bright purple shawl that Molly had given to Elizabeth as a gift... "I'll be damned! Look at th' two o' ye! Ye have a gypsy shawl coverlet over a bloody feather mattress!"

William and Elizabeth both patted their new mattress with their hands, as Jack's face suddenly became somber again... he spotted the small bottle of rosewater on the table... rosewater that Janie would use to fragrance the sheets... next to the small chunk of Connemara marble that Janie had found ... his eyes traveled to Elizabeth's tricorn laying on the bunk... with it's long streamer of cotton bandanna... Janie's bandanna... his mother's bandanna... suddenly, he reached up and touched the scar that ran through his eyebrow, and he thought of his papa... and his Janie... his Janie...

The captain put down his mug and lowered his head into his hands for a long moment... and it was then that his young cousins got up, came over and kneeled next to him.

His gruff voice rumbled from under his thick braids and dreadlocks, as he said, "... thank you..._go raibh maith agat ... _thank you for going to Eire wif me... ye knew we had t' do it... thank you for understandin' me... it hasn't been easy for me, and it won't ever be... but I have th' two of ye... ye made me make up wif me Janie... I can't make it wifout th' two of ye, an' I can't live wifout her... " Jack's voice became very soft, and even gruffer, "...an' I know it doesn't sound 'piratey', but I'm glad tha' ye 'almost' married us, William... "

Without raising his head, he reached his thin arms around his loved ones, as they also gently embraced him... finally raising his head, the captain and his young cousins sipped their rum... they had learned so much about this man since rescuing him from the Locker... and now they knew about the woman that was the keeper of his legacy, his love and his memories, both good and bad. They had grown to love this man deeply since knowing what made him become what he was, and the woman who had stood by him. They had seen several sides to him... and he had heeded the advice of his trusted first mate that no man is an island to himself... he had shown them the other side of the island that was Jack Sparrow...what his life had been like, and the ones who had borne him... now it was time that they helped him move forward... .

They all sat together in the comfort of the small cabin, and the soft wind that carried the fragrance of faraway Eire blew through the window, rippling the fringe on the purple gypsy shawl...

... and it also rippled the small piece of black velvet ribbon that now adorned the captain's thin wrist, interwoven with the piece of his mother's Irish bobbin lace... black velvet ribbon that had tied a long auburn braid of his lassie... a black velvet ribbon that was now scented lightly of rosewater... and that was now being used by slender, dark gypsy fingers to slowly polish the large silver ring of Claddagh that now adorned his own left hand... 'almost married'... there was a soft, approving creaking of the Pearl's dark timbers as the ship glided through the night...

... and back in Eire, an innkeeper was throwing another chunk of peat upon the fire, sitting with a cup of tea laced with whiskey, polishing her gold and marble ring of Claddagh with her black velvet hair ribbon... and longing for springtime, so that could she see her new family members come to Connemara once again... and could once again love her Jackie, whom those two young ones had brought back to her for love and for healing... her Jackie... her beautiful gypsy boy...

And she closed her eyes, and listened to the soft loving, Irish wind, blowing through the the forest... and she heard the waterfall through the trees...

THE END


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